N7
by Syre Lancaster
Summary: "Amoung the trillions of lives in the galaxy, there are the stories of a few that defy explanation. The ordinary must become extraordinary and as darkness falls, heroes must rise." This story follows that of a young Quarian Pilgrim and an Alliance Marine and their friends on their journeys across the stars. Originally published on Darknest.
1. Chapter 1: Origins

_**Chapter 1: Origins**_

**-2183-**

Kari shifted nervously as she listened quietly to the gentle slightly warbling voice of the Captain as she stood on the in the hallway near the docking port, giving the others their instructions. There were many people gathered here today, relatives and friends all eager to see them off.

She and three other young Quarians were about to embark on their pilgrimage, a Quarian tradition born of necessity on the Migrant Fleet. Each Quarian had to bring back something useful, be in food, resources or knowledge that would help their people. It was the moment which a child became an adult, and they would leave the ship of their birth. It was a sobering moment for any young Quarian... It was Kari's last day on the Vanya.

She had spent her life on the Vanya, from even her earliest recollections, she remembered the sights and sounds of the ship, the gentle hum of the ship's engine, incessant whirring of the life support system, creaky old fans moving the ship's sterile air into large scrubbing CO2 cylinders and back out into the living quarters. Living on the Vanya had always been cramped. What little deckspace that wasn't taken up by equipment had been repurposed as storage or living quarters. Only in the social district was there any semblance of what most species would consider a "livable" amount of free space. These were the conditions Kari had grown up to, and had never really bothered her.

But today...well today was different. All eyes were on her. Or at least...that's what it felt like. Kari scratched the back of her head, the deep navy blue fabric of her suit pressing ineffectually against her scalp, allaying the imaginary itch her mind had conjured. She had always liked the colour purple; it reminded her of the Void, silent and comforting. She had been on a few EVA's in her life, mostly to repair damaged components from the occasional meteor shower, but when she was walking on the surface of the hull, with no sound but the deep rise and fall of her breaths, it was a sublime experience.  
And then there were the vids of the homeworld, and the great sapphire oceans reflecting a deep violet night sky.

"Kari'Vereah." the Captain's voice pierced the pensive veil of her thoughts, startlingly her.  
"Y-yes?" she stuttered her voice was timid and demure, almost if she had never expected this moment to come.  
"What world do you choose for your Pilgrimage?" Admiral Lia'Raan spoke softly in comforting voice.  
Kari stuck on her words for a moment. She had considered several worlds to travel to, each of them offering unique and alluring prospects for any potential pilgrim. Yet there was one world that had stuck out in her mind, one that she wanted to see more than all the rest. One that had oceans…

"I choose Eden Prime, Captain Raan."  
There were a few whispers of surprise at her choice. Most Quarians chose worlds that were more populous, or settle by older species. A Turian colony or an interspecies location is what most of her people would choose, they were more convenient, increased the likelihood of finding something useful for the fleet, and there was the boon of having dextro food readily available. Indeed, the only other Quarian that had chosen a distinctly human colony was Veetor'Nara, and he wasn't quite…there.  
Kari wasn't really sure she was entirely lucid either, but still, a human agricultural world was far more appealing to her than a crowded metropolis.

"Are you sure, Kari?" Raan finally spoke, her voice bearing a slight whiff of incredulousness.  
"I-I am" Kari responded bowing her head slightly, as if expecting a scolding.

"Very well, Kari'Vereah. Your ships is loaded with provisions and all the tools you will need for your Pilgrimage…and remember, whatever you acquire…it must not bring harm to another."

Lia'Raan let those last words hang on the air for a moment, it was a warning commonly given and everyone on the Migrant Fleet knew the punishment for breaking the one rule of the Pilgrimage.

Raan smiled warmly, and wrapped her arms around the young girl in a warm embrace. "Keelah Se'lai, Kari. May the ancestors guide you back to us."

"Keelah Se'lai." Kari softly repeated as her friends and family drew in around them to give their loved one their farewells.  
Even then Kari couldn't help but feel an itch.

* * *

"Booyah!"

"Bloody hell."

James couldn't believe his luck: another bomb out. He had to be the worst player ever at Skyllian Five.  
"Yeah that's right, Frost. Read em and weep!" Thomas grinned toothily as he dramatically raked in the chips into his pile with a large sweep of his arm.  
"This is why I don't play games of chance." James snorted derisively. "I can't believe you talked me into this, Rose."  
Keira chuckled, as she took another sip of her drink, before laying her cards down on the table. Three pair, a good hand, but still Ace had them both beat with a straight.  
"I warned you, Lieutenant, Mr. Blackburn is very good at games of chance." Bishop chided in his deep central European accent from behind his box glassed that sat perched on his nose like a finch.  
"Why don't you play, sir?" Ace chimed in, still with a smug grin plastered across his pale, slightly freckled face. "I bet you could give Staff Sergeant Baines a run for her money. Of course, you will to the master nevertheless, but at least you can have the joy of coming in second."  
Bishop shook his head, an impish smile on his lips as his eyes returned to the datapad he was reading.  
"I'm too old for poker, Mr. Blackburn. I only gamble my life now, not my money."  
Ace grinned. "Oh well, I can still take the LT's money."

"Oh no, I'm not going to dance to this tune anymore…I'm out." James said as he dropped his cards onto the pile and pushed his chips to Keira.  
"I'm going to go find something else to do, something I'm good at." James said as he stood up, grabbing his drink and his N7 baseball cap.  
"Well…try not to get a hand cramp." Thomas snorted. "Very funny, Corporal…" James shot back, "I think the latrines are due for a good scrubbing, don't you think, Staff Sergeant Baines?  
"Oh I agree, LT." Keira returned in a matter-of-factual tone of voice, despite the wolfish grin on her face. "Wha- …dammit." Ace's smug grin disappeared as he realized what he had just stepped into.  
"Com'n sir, you can't get mad just cau-"  
"Oh I can, Corporal, Officer's prerogative." James kept his face straight as an arrow.  
James furrowed his brow and evened his voice into the hard commanding tone of an officer giving an unpopular order to his troops.  
Ace hung his head and sighed, realizing his defeat. "Yes, sir…"  
"Oh and while you're at it, send in a requisition to HQ for those little soaps. You know, the ones with the N7 stamped on them. They make a better lather than the standard issue ones."

"…You're fucking with me aren't you...?"  
James smiled. "Good man, Mr. Blackburn. Good man." James gave Thomas a curt but patronizing pat on the head and left the crew lounge to the sound of laughter and Keira's mockery. "Told you not to piss off the LT."

James smiled as he walked down the corridors, the sounds of the crew lounge fading out as his boots tapped a sharp cadence of lonely steps down the gunmetal grey deck plating. It had been a little more than a year since he had been posted to the SSV Halcyon, one of the Alliance's older models of frigate, the Halcyon herself dated back just prior to the First Contact War, designed and built during the Alliance's aggressive expansion following the discovery of the Prothean archives on Mars and the original founding of the Alliance. The Halcyon was a nimble little thing, and she had aged quite well. The boys at Luna base kept her up-to-date with some of the best tech around, but it was no secret she was getting old. It wouldn't be long before they mothballed her, or scrapped her for the new SR-models that command had been co-developing with the Turians.

Turians. James had heard many stories about them. His father had been at retaking of Shanxi. It had been a bloody fight, the Turian's sense of honour and duty called them to stay and fight, even when all hope of victory had been lost. The Alliance had ended up driving the Turians from the planet with heavy causalities, but they had gained the respect of those who fought against them. Of course not humans felt this way; his mother had lost a dear family friend during the siege, and still held onto some bitterness even to this day. However, it had been his father's stories of war and serving the Alliance that had first enkindled the desire in him to become an N7.

N7. He still had a hard time believing it sometimes. Ever since he was a kid, no more than four, he had wanted to be one. The Alliance's Elite…Special Forces, making the galaxy safer for humanity ,seeing new worlds, meeting strange aliens and get to kill them, or at least as the unofficial recruitment idiom had said. And still, here he was…twenty two years later….He placed his hand on the bulkhead, letting his fingers move down the metal, feeling the slight imperfections: bumps, cracks, soft vibrations of the engines and mass-effect core. It seemed surreal, and yet all too real. He had his purpose, the only thing he had ever truly wanted. Right here.  
_Well-_ James chuckled to himself _-one of the two things he had ever wanted_

Suddenly, there was an increase in vibrations, and James felt the deck plating shift beneath his feet.  
They were turning….and accelerating…The ship's klaxons blared,  
**"Attention: All hands to combat stations. This is not a drill."**

The silence of the Halcyon's corridors was broken by the thudding footfalls of boots. Frantic and surprised voices filled the hallway, meshing together into one single unintelligible mass of sound as the red emergency lights built into the Halcyon's hull flicked out their pattern of warning: he knew it by heart  
_**One-two-one: Unidentified hostiles, prepare for hard contact.**_  
"Raiders…or worse..." James thought as he made his way towards the CIC, pushing past other crewmembers hurrying to their stations in varying states of disheveled dress. He even saw one of the ship's engineers, LtC. Hurrez rushing to his station with nothing but a loosely tied robe on.

"What's going on, sir?" someone asked further down the corridor, the bend of the ship keeping them just out of view. "I don't know, Ensign, but we will find out soon enough." It was Captain Abendroth's voice, Bishop's voice "Captain!" James yelled over the din. "Lieutenant Irving!" the older man responded, waving him closer and nodding to the young navy ensign to get moving.  
James looked at Bishop with growing concern, he could tell by the old German's furrowed brow he knew exactly what was happening.  
Bishop's gaze's met his, James words came slowly and quietly, but he already knew what that look meant.

"What happened?"

* * *

To say Eden Prime wasn't what she expected, was an understatement for Kari'Vereah Nar Vanya. It was better….  
As soon as she stepped off the deck plating onto the verdant world the first thing she realized was how bright it was  
It was like staring directing into the heart of a drive core, the powerful pulses of electromagnetic radiation blinding her. The protective mass effect fields around a core would prevent any harmful radiation from leaking through, but the visible spectrum passed through unhindered.  
"Keelah…" she muttered to herself, not audible enough to be heard outside her suit as she raised her arm to block the rays of Eden Prime's sun. She stepped forward, his feet leaving the small deck her shuttle and clanking out awkwardly onto the steel gangplank that rank up to the docking pad. It was simple; open aired and spoke volumes of the world itself: an agricultural backwater without even the luxury of a properly enclosed spaceport terminal.  
Yet, Kari's mind was flooded with new sensations, sights and sounds…smell even, although heavily filtered, of a new world. The first planet she ever set foot on…she tried to wrap her mind around it.

Of course, they had told her about what to expect; her limbs felt heavier; her eyes weren't accustomed to the mid-summer sun still high in Eden Prime's sky and her balance was slightly off, enough to cause her to trip over her own feet more than once.  
_Keelah, It feels like I'm a child again._  
She thought, remembering those first unsteady steps in her evirosuit, her mother and father watching with pride as their daughter grew from a child into an adolescent. In all honesty she still was just a child, only twenty years of age and here she was, taking those first awkward steps again…only this time, her mother and father weren't here.  
The thought struck her with some sadness, her parents weren't here… they couldn't see her now, taking her first steps on her Pilgrimage, her first time on a planet. The cold metal floors of the fleet are all she had ever known, and here, right here…just a few feet below her...was dirt real dirt and grass. It wasn't the homeworld, but by the stars, it felt like it. She wanted to see more, she had to see more, it was too much for her to bear.

Kari lowered her arm, hesitantly, her eyes still recoiling at the harsh flood of light, but they stood their ground…as the vast horizon opened up to her.  
For miles and miles on end, green verdant valleys and hills rolled across the landscape. Tilled and plowed rows of hundreds and thousands of kilometers of arable soil had been sown. Grains and grasses, legumes and berries as far as the eye could see. There were large towers, white and pristine rising out of the fields that reached up and touched the sky and winding dirt roads for harvesting equipment that seemed to stretch on for eternity.

Kari wasn't quite sure what to make of it all; her mind was so full of data, so full of questions. Her curiosity was going to get the better of her timid nature, she could already feel it. This was what she wanted. Wide open spaces, a chance to see the natural wonders of the universe in its entire splendor…and of course…the chance to study it. Like any proper Quarian should! Well, Quarian scientist maybe.

"Welcome to Eden Prime." A voice broke her line of thought.

"W-What...huh?"

"I said 'Welcome to Eden Prime.'" The voice repeated. Kari looked down the ramp for its point of origin. It was a rather small, bare-headed human. He wore thick frame oval glasses and had a voice that sounded like nutrient paste that had gelled over from sitting out too long: bland and rather tasteless.

Kari was taken a bit aback for a moment, as this was her first encounter with a human, and it wasn't at all what she expected. Luckily, her suit's visor obscured her look of shock and slight disappointment.  
"Name please." The man asked, in the same dull monotone, his body language indicating he didn't care in the slightest, and to him, this Quarian was just another batch of paperwork to be filed.

"Kari'Vereah Nar Vanya." She stated after a moment's pause.  
"Spell that please." He droned in response, and Kari began to wonder if she had landed on a Geth colony by accident.  
Nevertheless she obliged, and gave all the necessary details that he required from her.  
"Very good Miss _Ner'Vana_." He finally stated after he finished punching in the few characters into the registry.  
"It's _Nar Vanya_…and that it's my n-" she began with a slight hint of annoyance, her frustration starting to overcome her demure nature.  
The man interrupted her, "There's just the matter of the anchorage and administration fees." He said, holding out his hand expectantly, not bothering to make eye contact with her.

"Oh- right… just let me-" Kari reached into her pocket and hardly before she had gotten her credit chit out, the man snatched it from her and swiped it across the terminus on the side of his datapad.  
After a moment's pause, he returned the small piece of plastic to her hand and gave a cold bow.  
"All is in order, thank you for visiting Eden Prime, Miss_Ner'vana_ and have a pleasant stay."  
Before Kari could say anything else, he turned on his heel and made his way down the gangway to the next ship.

Kari frowned slightly, as she carefully replaced the credit chit back in her suit's pocket, as she grumbled in Quarian.  
"Bosh'tet." She muttered…but then instantly regretted it. Even though she felt annoyance, remembered that he was just a low-level functionary…having to do the same routine, hundreds of times a day for year after year.  
She even began to pity the man a little bit as she went back aboard her ship and started to gather her supplies and personal belongings.  
Still, she had to admit, if that is what humans were like, then she could see why some other species disliked them, but then again…he was the first alien she had ever met.  
It seemed like just her luck, for her first contact with an alien race to be a disaster.

She sighed heavily.  
_Hopefully it will be better from here on._

Deep down, a part of her scoffed.  
_Maybe I should have chosen a Geth colony…_

* * *

Artwork Julius Lattke


	2. Chapter 2: Contact

**Chapter 2: Contact**

It had been some time since Kari had landed on Eden Prime, four days so far. The days had been much longer than those on the Migrant fleet, nearly three times as long in fact. She had found herself waking up in the wee hours, and getting sleepy in the middle of the day but she had finally gotten used to it. The humans on the planet seemed to take small naps when they felt sleepy and then slept through most of Eden Prime's thirty-two hour night. The ones that had been there longer at least, she often saw laborers out in the fields in the middle of the night, working by the light of omni-tools or massive halogen lights that they carted out into the fields.

Kari had started to mingle a little with some of the human colonists. Most of them simply ignored her presence, some were curious…and a few hostile. After one particularly bad encounter with one of the officers of the local law enforcement, she had decided that perhaps her time was better spent away from the main colony on the outskirts of town. She had gear enough to make a makeshift campsite if she needed it, and it seemed that no one but farmers ever went out into the fields.

One day when she was out collecting samples and running tests. Kari had encountered what she thought was a type of weed. The plant was rather unsightly and she had figured that no one would mind if she took a few leaves. However, as chance would have it one of the farmers was driving by on a machine called a 'tractor' and he had stopped her and asked what she was doing to his crop. It had turned out that the old man had planted the weed and it was something called "tobacco" and was used to do something called "smoking:" Evidentially, the plant was harvested, the leaves were cut up and dried and then vaporized or burned. The resulting smoke was then inhaled.

Kari had never heard of any such thing before, and she had apologized profusely for her trespass and offered to pay for any damages. She fully expected to be arrested, or have some sort of punishment levied against her but the old man had instead invited her to stay with him and his wife after hearing the young quarian's story. Sam and Ellie Ellis lived in a small house on the very outskirts of the colony. They didn't like in the tower apartments like most of the rest of the humans on Eden Prime, but had settled for a rather low-tech house built from materials gathered from the local plants and stones from a nearby quarry. Kari had never seen a "wood" house before, it was somewhat crudely made, trunks of trees that had been stacked on top of one another, with notches sawn into them so that wood compacted nicely and one could still see some of the knots where the limbs had once sprouted, but the house was sturdy and had a sort of rustic charm to it.

Of course, Kari's natural curiosity got the better of her, and she had asked question after question of the grey haired humans. They explained that they were from earth, but overpopulation had pushed them to come here when they were both younger. He had been a soldier once and she had been in the medical field, something called a "nurse". They had met when he had been injured in the battle of Shanxi during the First Contact War. Sam's wound hadn't been life threatening, but it had meant he would never be a soldier again. So they decided to become farmers and build a 'log cabin' on one of the agricultural worlds.

Kari found it all fascinating, she asked more questions of them and they seemed happy to indulge her. It seemed that they had a son once, but he had left some years ago to join the Alliance Navy. They didn't have much company out where they lived, and so someone to talk seemed a welcome diversion for them, especially since they seemed to be living by pre-space flight standards as far as communication went. They had their own questions for her, about her people, her family, her pilgrimage, her suit and she was happy to answer. Although it felt a little strange admittedly, no one on the fleet other than her parents had shown such an interest in her, but still it was pleasant to finally have someone to open up to a little bit. After the evening meal, the two excused themselves but not before giving her use of their son's old room; she offered to pay but they wouldn't accept.  
"You stay as long as you want dearie." Ellie had told her, "We are glad of the company."

It was very kind of them, Kari thought, as she got undressed for the night, removing the violet fabric that wrapped around her body and composed her hood, leaving her in just her envirosuit as she lay down on the surprisingly soft bed. Even through her suit, she could feel the difference. It wasn't some old piece of insulation wrapped in cloth, it wasn't even one of the nicer foam mattress that some quarians gave their children when they got their first suit. It was made of something else entirely…and it was sooooo soft.  
"Keelah" she remarked, pressing the mattress with a finger. It felt like she was laying on top of a cloud.  
She smiled and snuggled into the bed comfortably; thanking the ancestors that not all humans were as the first one she met. As the light of Eden Prime's moon caressed the fringes of the curtains tenderly, Kari feel into the deep warm ocean of sleep.

* * *

It had been less than an hour since the call came in. Eden Prime, the great symbol of Alliance progress had gone dark. Whispers and murmurs of speculation, rumors and fears were spreading faster than wildfire in the Briefing Room, but there had been no official word as of yet.  
_"I heard it was Batarians…"_ one ensign was overhead to say. _"my buddy…. and he said it was the Turians"_another private hissed.  
_"Don't be stupid…our side now…they wouldn't-"_

**"Quiet down."**the voice of the ship's captain, Hall broke through the fog of whispers. The captain, a short grey-haired man with a hard-lined jaw and grizzled features took the dias at the head of the room. Silence followed in his wake, as his piercing grey eyes scanned the room, they seemed to be scrutinizing and judging each and every one of them, including James.

After a long moment, Captain Hall activated his omni-tool, his voice came sharply and distinctly.  
"Listen up. We have just received word from the SSV Normandy, who was the first on the scene."  
A small red indicator light flashed on his omni-tool, the "attention" whistle sounded across the intercom system as the captain spoke.

"At 21:39 hours Terran Standard Time, the colony of Eden Prime was attacked by a warship of unknown origin." The captain paused for breath, letting the weight of the words sink in before he continued.  
"The report goes on to indicate, that this warship was carrying Geth soldiers, who have taken control of the colony."  
There ws a resurgent of whispers and murmurs. Captain Hall ignore them, continuing to read to the read in his deep baritone voice.

"At this time, we cannot confirm the current state of the colony, or if there are survivors, but initial reports indicated that the Geth have been targeting civilians."  
More whispers surfaced…some desperate and worried.  
"The SSV Halcyon has been diverted, to aid in securing the colony and eliminate the Geth threat. More details will follow as they become available."

Captain Hall nodded to Bishop, "Commander Abendroth, you will be leading the forces on the ground. Prepare your men."  
Bishop snapped a smart salute, which Hall return and then left the room . After he had departed, Bishop turned to the crew that had gathered. "All N7's remain, the rest of you: dismissed." He barked and one at a time, the crew got up out of their seats and filed out, leaving only James, Keira, and Thomas left.  
"All right… here's the score…"

* * *

Kari awoke some hours later, feeling refreshed and better than she had these last five days. It was still dark outside and would be for awhile, but her omni-tools chrono told her that dawn wouldn't be far away for Eden Prime and that she should probably take this opportunity to get some supplies from her shuttle if she was going to be staying with the Ellis's for some time. She swung her feet across the bed from under the comforters and placed them on the floor. The window was still open, and a gentle breeze was rolling in across the landscape. The soft chirping and murmuring of the local insect and bird life had already begun to signal a new day's pending arrival, and in the distance she could see a few roaming lights from the workers and their vehicles as they began their work.

Kari pressed her weight against her legs, pushing herself up off the bed, despite her minds unconscious objections.  
_I could lay in that bed all day,_she thought but she dismissed the idea, she had too much work to do. There was still the samples she had to take, soils compositions to measure, and then perform experiments with dextro-amino flora to see if the human's agriculture could be adapted for the liveships.

To be entirely honest, it was a long shot, and she knew it…but she didn't want to go back to the fleet with just another piece of tech or a small datacache on where resources might be like most pilgrams. She wanted to do something truly special, something that could change the quality of life for her people for the better.  
And, she had to admit, it would be nice to be vindicated…

"Good morning." Mrs Ellis chimed brightly as she peaked in from the doorway. Not fully stepping into the room, just in case.  
"Oh! Err- umm- one-.." Kari sputtered as she gathered up her discarded azure fabric and wrapped it around her once more; hiding the suits mechanisms, cables and latches, and made her presentable once more. Well, at least by Quarian standards.  
For a Quarian to wear just a suit, without any sort of decorum or cover was a bit immodest. Males tended to get away with showing a bit more suit than the females did, though. It was an acceptable double standard in the eyes of the Quarians.  
"Come in." Kari said at last and Mrs Ellis toddled into the room.  
"I heard you stirring, but I wasn't sure if you were dressed yet…although I remember you mentioning that you always wear that suit."  
Kari nodded. "Yes, our immune systems are too weak to be without them."  
Mrs Ellis' nodded, her features flashed something, it was somewhat sad…pensive, but it passed too quickly to dwell on.  
"Well. I made you some breakfast. Sam's already gone out to the fields, you should join him when you're ready. He said he's got a few things you might be interested in for your fleet."  
Kari felt a little ashamed that she hadn't mentioned to the Ellis's that she couldn't eat human food. It was levo-animo acid based. She was dextro-animo.  
"Thank you, Mrs Ellis...but I can't eat human cuisine. My body can't process it "  
Ellie shook her head, "No no no, dearie. It's some of that Turian stuff. That asari at the market told me your kind could eat Turian food, right?"  
Kari blinked.  
"When did you-"  
Mrs Ellis chuckled, "This morning, when you were sleeping. I was going to ask you what you wanted but you were out like a light. So me and Sam went down to the city and got some food. The lady at the market told us that it was some of the finest dextro-what-not's that they had available. I just hope I cooked it right."

Kari was dumbfounded. She had just met the Ellis's last night and already they had gone far out of their way to not only make sure she had a place to sleep..but something to eat too?

"I don't know what to say…"she managed after a long silence "Thank you."  
Mrs Ellis smiled, it was warm…comforting…motherly. "You're welcome, dearie."  
Kari blushed and wrung her fingers a bit. "I'll find someway repay your kindness, I swear…" the words sounded a bit like a hollow promise, but she meant them.  
Mrs Ellis shook her head, "Pay it forward, sweetie."

Kari inclined her head a bit, "Pay it forward?" she repeated, she had never heard that phrase before._Did she mean that she wanted payment right now?_ thought Kari as she started to reach for her credit chit.  
Mrs Ellis shook her head again, grabbing the young Quarian's wrist. "It's an old Earth saying." She explained. "My pappy always used to say it….it means 'When a kindness is given to you, give a kindness to another'."  
Kari tilted her head again, "I still don't understand…" she said, feeling a bit stupid.  
Mrs Ellis chuckled. "Instead of giving back to the person that showed you kindness, you give a kindness to another person. That way it keeps on going….pay it forward."

Kari nodded her head, finally understanding what she meant. Mrs Ellis smiled and patting her arm softly. "Good, now go get your breakfast before it gets cold."  
Kari felt a little smile spread across her lips.

_I made the right choice._

* * *

This was always the hardest part of the mission: getting geared up.

James thought.

It wasn't an exceptionally difficult task to perform, indeed, many of the actions were second nature to James and most Marines: snapping the pieces of his Serrice Council armour into place, making sure the straps were taught, but not so much to prevent circulation disruption; checking weapons; making sure they had full magazines of thermal clips; loading a few extra into the pack; picking what weapons they would need.

No, the very fact that everything that he did to prepare for a mission was second nature now, meant his mind could wander…into dark valleys and crevices he'd rather not revisit.  
The Geth have been targeting civilians. Captain Hall's words still ringing clearly in his mind, dragging his consciousness down into those inky depths of memories he rather just forget about.

_Elysium: a cold spring day, sunny, soldiers on leave, enjoying the company of old friends and new in the park. Some of them sitting on the green-talking. Others playing rugby or football, Donald running on the path with a small band of marines, he never could stop…always driven…always pressing forward. James admired him, and envied him.  
Then the sky grows dark, a cloud perhaps, or a transport? No…warship. Pirates…slavers… gunfire rings out, screams…children crying….  
_  
James snapped the magazine into place on his M-8 Avenger, the weapon's systems giving a soft whirr as the first clip slide into place distal of the heat sink. He snapped it into position on his mag-locks over the right scapula before he reached for his M-23 Katana.  
It had been seven years since that day, since his first battle. He had watched so many die that day, and in the days since then. It wasn't something he talked about, or even thought about that much, a part of himself he'd rather keep locked up deep within the recesses of his mind. Over the years it had gotten easier, to watch friends die. Soldiers… He always told himself that they died so that countless others could live, that they died fighting to keep humanity safe. They died for their loved ones.  
But civilians…it never got easy to watch a civilian die…

"Five minutes." Bishop noted, checking his timepiece - one of those ancient things, circular and metal that was held to the wrist with a strap. A relic of a time before the discovery of the Mars archive and the founding of the Alliance.  
"We had better get to the cargo bay, we should be ready when arrive at Eden Prime."  
"Aye, let's get to it then." Ace said, snapping his breather helmet into place. Keria was already standing by the door, holding her M-98 Widow sniper rifle causually at waist level. Her body language communicated to James that she was anxious, restless but also ready. "Hurry up, you two." she grumbled at James and Thomas.  
James nodded, more to his own mind that to Keira. He had already lived through the Skyllian Blitz once, he didn't need to relive it now.

James snapped his M-23 into the mag-lock on his back and reached for his Tyriel Communication Corp Death Mask in his gauntleted hands before sliding it over his short cropped blonde-hair.

Tyriel Corp always made the best gear when it came to providing protection. The Death Mask featured the best in both auditory and physical protection while providing clean, easy-to-process combat data via the uplink to his suits sensors. It also allowed him to deploy his tech programs from his omni-tool much faster than the standard N7 helmet and didn't inhibit his biotic functionality either. In other words: it was the perfect helmet for a Sentinel. Not to mention the fact it was roomy, which was a boon for someone such as James, being just over 2 meters tall in height. James was in no way small, by any stretch of the imagination, and neither was his head. It was nice to finally have a helmet that fit him, even if it had put him back more than he would have liked.

"Let's go." James finally said, joining the others at the door. They made their way down the corridors, plodding out slow heavy beats with each step. Clacking of plates and snapping of boots made the circular metal hallways come alive with their own rhythms of battle. Like the cadence of war-drums snapping out their salute to those who had gone before. As they passed, each one of them reached out, placing a gloved hand on the Memorial wall, a bare piece of metal, with the names of all those who had died in the Halcyon's twenty-five years of service lived on.  
"Two minutes." Bishop said, checking his timepiece as they entered the elevator, the descending down into the depths of the ship. After a few seconds, the lift opened, and Bishop turned to his men. He gave them a slight nod. It was a small gesture, simple but James knew what it meant.  
_"Whatever happens, make me proud."_

He turned, and stepped out of the elevator. As they followed behind him, James's eyes drifted upwards towards the UT-47 Kodiak. The ship was fueled up, fully armed and ready to go.  
"Captain, this is Commander Abendroth. Strike team reporting ready, sir."

"Standby, Commander. We will be dropping out of FTL momentarily." Came the captain's voice over his suit's com.  
**"All hands. This is the Captain. Prepare for contact."**

The deck shifted, a sudden surge towards the bow of the ship just before the kinetic dampeners set in. They were in the fight.  
_"This is SSV Halcyon, to any allied ships in the area." The pilot's voice came over the closed combat channel. "This is Lt Kendon, requesting combat data and permission to engage hostile forces."_

There was a moment's pause…  
James began to worry…were they too late, had the colony been destroyed?

_"This is Lt. Moreau, SSV Normandy. If you're the cavalry, then I'm filing a complaint with Alliance brass. Still, at this point we can't afford to be choosy. We've got Geth cruisers heading your way. We are on an intercept course. Let's give these bastards hell."_

_"Roger that, Normandy, moving to engage."_

The com channel suddenly went loud, combat chatter flowing over the channels as torrents of information began to pour forth from the Halcyon's crew. Even as they did, Captain Hall's voice came clearly.  
_"Commander. Get your team on the shuttle. We will be dropping you directly into the hotzone."_

"Aye aye, sir." Bishop said, his hand pressed to his earpiece. '"You heard the man, let's go save a colony."

* * *

Three weeks since she had arrived on Eden Prime, and in that Kari had learned a great deal. Not only had her research into better agricultural methods for the Migrant Fleet yielded fruit, but she had learned a great deal about human culture, and indeed the galaxy as a whole. When she wasn't out in the Ellis's fields collecting samples or running experiments back at her lab she had set up with Mr Ellis's help, she was out meeting new people or talking to the Ellis's. It seemed that the Ellis's had garnered a great amount respect of the locals over the years they had lived on Eden Prime.

It had smoothed things over for Kari a great deal, being seen with the Ellis's. People that had previously ignored her actually came up and spoke with her, and those who had mistreated her simply kept their silence. Even the other aliens seemed to be more hospitable. She had wasted many an hour talking to the turian–asari couple who ran the local grocer where Mrs Ellis bought her food from and there was even a Volus that she had gotten to know on one of her trips to the hardware store.

_"Not-hrrrrrkkk-everyone can see-hrrrrkk-opportunity when it-hhrrrkkk-comes to agricultural worlds."_ The volus had told her as she and Mr Ellis had been checking out.  
_"But farmers are much-hrrrkkk-easier to work with-hrrrkkk-they are much more reasonable-hrrrrrkkkk- than what I used to deal with on the Citadel."  
_  
It seemed to Kari that a lot of people wanted a different life than the one they had been given. It was a sentiment she could relate to all to well. Growing up on the fleet she had always wanted a different life. Her entire people wanted it, having been driven from their homeworld, Rannoch, by the Geth. There wasn't a day that went by that each one of them dreamed of seeing its cliffs and skies again. Its oceans and valleys, for them, a world of their own was just a myth, a dream that rapidly dissipated when the fog of dreams gave way to the stark incandescent light of reality. Yet, it was a dream that she had lived, for three weeks...and she didn't want to give it up.  
It wasn't until later on that day when Kari and Sam were working on an old petrol-powered tractor that her thoughts really started to weigh down on her. "You know…Mr Ellis…" she began, working her fingers deeper into the tractor's rusty engine.

"I must confess that I envy your people." She said, pulling a damaged spark plug out and laying it gently aside, life on the fleet had taught her that even damaged things can be useful.  
"How is that my dear?" Mr Ellis asked, although he suspected he already knew what she was going to say.  
"It's just that…humans have a planet, a world to call their own…several, in fact. My people have nowhere, everyday is a struggle for survival, we may not act like it is, but…" she sighed heavily. She knew what she wanted to say…but the words felt wrong, like even speaking them was a betrayal of her people.  
She was about to speak when Mr Ellis put a hand on her shoulder. Kari turned her head to face him The old man smiled at her, it was a soft thing, comforting, like if empathy were a blanket she could just wrap herself up in… it was something she could never get from another Quarian….

"I understand." Mr Ellis murmured.  
"Sometimes the hardest choices in life are the ones with the simplest answers. In the end, we all have burdens we must bear, crosses we must take up."  
Kari turned her head slightly. "Crosses we must bear?" she asked curiously. Mr Ellis chuckled, "Old human saying."  
Kari looked up at him, meeting his eyes, unsure of what exactly he was telling her. "So…you think I should go back to the fleet, then?"  
Mr Ellis's looked at her, his expression was…beyond her, sad almost, weary, frightened?  
"That my dear, it is up to you…it is your decision, and you must live with it…but know you will always be welcome in our home, whatever you choose."  
Kari looked down at her feet, embarrassed, confused, humbled but…grateful…nevertheless.

"Now…I think we have worked hard enough for today. Let's go get some lunch and maybe we can go to the beach this afternoon eh?"  
Kari's face lit up. "Really?" she asked anxiously, hardly believing her ears.  
Mr Ellis nodded with a sagely grin, "Yes, really, but not before we eat. Ellie went to a lot of trouble to make a special lunch for us today, so you better tell her thank you." He poked teasingly.  
Kari could hardly contain herself. "Oh I will. I will, I will, I will!"  
Even as the Quarian rushed ahead of him , Mr Ellis couldn't help but laugh.  
"Kids…always the same, no matter the species."


	3. Chapter 3: Sacrifice

**Chapter 3: Sacrifice**

Kari could hardly contain her glee. It felt like years since she had first arrived on Eden Prime. She had been so busy with her work and getting to know the locals, she had almost forgotten one of the most main reasons she had come to the planet in the first place: to see the ocean.  
Oh, it was trivial and trite wish, and Kari had put it on a low priority in her mind. She had been sifting through data, testing hypotheses and eventually put it all together into presentable pilgrimage gift, but the desire to see the sea had always been scratching at her willpower, fighting with her discipline. Fleet came first, she knew that, she had been taught that since birth, but now that she was on the cusp of realizing one of her dreams…the joy was intoxicating.

"Keelah!" Kari exclaimed as she waited at the bottom of the Ellis's stairs for Sam, showing her impatience for the first time in her life, an act which she instantly regretted. The Ellis's had been so kind to her, they had sheltered her, fed her, helped her, and given her a purpose beyond that of just acquiring a Pilgrimage gift.  
She was so lucky to have met them, she couldn't ask for better friends.

"Keep yer suit on, girl. I'm coming." Mr Ellis yelled back, the heavy bump-bump-bumping of his cane resounding as he limped down the stairs.  
Kari felt another pang of regret when she heard it, much stronger this time as she realized that his leg must have been hurting again. It hadn't been quiet right since a Turian sniper's round nearly taken it off at during the battle of Shanxi.

Yet as he came down the stairs, his demeanor was nothing but good natured, even though there was a distant, suppressed look of discomfort in his eyes.  
"Sorry, had to get my meds." He explained, as he hobbled towards the door. Kari paused for a moment, her expression one of concern, although he couldn't see it.  
"Are you sure you're up to this, Mr Ellis…I can wait…" she inflected, somewhat sadly. As much as she wanted to go, Kari wanted Mr. Ellis not to have to endure pain because of her.  
"Nonsense girl, I feel as fresh as a spring chicken and as high as a kite!" he exclaim happily, waving his crane about for emphasis. Kari couldn't help a smile, but a reserved one at that.

He chuckled sagely but he could tell by her body language that he hadn't quite assuaged her concern, "Besides, Ellie loves the ocean too, and if I back out on her, she'll skin me alive."  
Kari giggled softly, her mind releasing her from fear and doubt. "Okay, but I'm driving. I've seen how you drive after you take your meds."  
Sam shook his head in mock defeat, "Very well, have it your way."  
_"You ready yet, Sam? I could have sailed across the Atlantic in a rowboat by now!"_came Mrs Ellis's voice from outside, followed by a short toot of the car's horn. Her tone was jovial, and playful. It made Kari feel a lot better.

Sam just snorted and rolled his eyes to Kari. "See what I have to put up with...? Well, no use standin' around. Let's go!"

Kari smiled again, she couldn't help it. She couldn't help but feel happy here, it was the strangest thing. Twenty years amoung her people, and she had never felt as close to anyone as she had the Ellis's. Kari knew that she would have to make a decision soon, but until then, she was going to live part of her dream.

That is, she was…until she stepped outside.

The first thing she noticed when she stepped out onto the gravel that led up to the Ellis's house was that Mrs Ellis was no longer in the car. She was standing next to it… looking upwards. Mr Ellis too, had frozen in his tracks, not more than two steps ahead of her, his body was tense, straight, almost military in posture. It was a stance that she had seen her father assume many times…and it was never good.  
Her mind almost didn't want to let her eyes follow the Ellis's gaze, her conscious thoughts trying to wheel away from whatever was casting a long shadow across the landscape, fear gripped her and her head inclined slowly upwards.

Kari felt herself scream, the air from her lungs expelled in a cry of both trepidation and disbelief, but she didn't hear the scream, for as she beheld the giant clawed hand descending from space, a single, powerful, resonance drowned out all other sound.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRR**_

* * *

Captain Hall said they were dropping them into the hot zone, but James didn't think he had meant so _literally_. Intense heat poured into the crew compartment in waves and It poured off the ground in waves and currents, forming little eddies of hot air mixed with the relative cool of the shuttle's interior. James even had to shield his face for a moment before his suit's environmental systems kicked in to compensate for the sudden change in temperature. Cool, icy air flooded forward from the vents along his spinal cord until the ambient temperature was a steady 22 Celsius again.

He finally ventured a peek from behind his arm, and what he saw was utter devastation. The Kodiak had set them directly down on the site where the hostile warship had landed. Scans had shown that it was the safest LZ within striking distance of their target: the commercial spaceport, where the Geth had set up a Thermo-nuclear device and from all indications were about to set it off. It was disturbing enough, that the thought of the bomb going off would kill an untold number of civilians that may or may not be still alive, but that such extreme measures suggested that there was something that the Geth really didn't want the Alliance knowing about.

Or at least that's what seemed logical. From what he knew of the Geth, they were not like the Batarians, they didn't kill for the sake of making a point. They were machines, inventions of the Quarians that had broken free of their master's control some three centuries ago. There had to be some logic behind their attack, something on the table that the Alliance didn't know about. Something big, or at least that's how it seemed. The Alliance was keeping them in the dark as per usual.

"Move up." Bishop whispered, despite the fact that his Recon issue helmet made sure that no one heard his voice but the squad.  
They formed into a loose square formation, as they had practiced a thousand times over for movement through open areas. The enemy warship's landing had cleared a zone of about 100 meters square, leaving nothing but glowing red glass that crunched under their boots.  
Bishop took the lead, Frost on the left, Rose on the right and Ace bringing up the rear.

"Clear so far, sir. Looks like even the Geth don't like to be barbequed." Ace grunted derisively. "Kill the chatter." Rose hissed at him, her body language that of a predator stalking her prey, keeping the M-98 up and out, checking the ridges and treeline for any sign of moment.  
"Ace is right," James whispered as he took at look at his gauges, outside temperatures were over 200 degrees centigrade. "We better get a move on. Our suits' shields can only handle so much of this before they overload." James nodded, giving a quick tap on Ace's shoulder to fall in.  
"Agreed," Bishop nodded, "Squad, double time to the berm. Let's go!"  
They moved quickly through the rest of the landing zone, trading protection for speed as they sprinted to get to the edge of the crater. If the Geth had any snipers watching them, they easily could have picked them off one at a time before they ever made it past the edge of the glowing glass.

But, even as they reached the edge of the LZ, there was nothing. Just eerie silence as they one by one clamoured over the berm on the crater's edge. James felt uncomfortable, it was far too quiet, he didn't even hear the sound of insects chirping as he moved up with the rest of the squad to some crates just beyond the landing zone.

The target was the spaceport, the hub of Geth activity in this area and possibly the location of the nuke. The spaceport was a rather unremarkable structure about bout half a click out but had been badly damaged in the attack. Great swaths of flaming debris had been cut out of the landscape, as if by a beam or some giant lazer that dragged itself like a burning tongue across the structure and the landscape around it.

Around the outskirts of the spaceport, James could see bodies scattered all around, most of them looked burned. Others looked like they had been impaled and left as some kind of ghoulish warning, similar to some ancient cultures of barbarians back on Earth. Yet, James didn't have time to ponder the significance of why synthetics would commit such an atrocity before he felt a hand pull him down to the dirt.  
"Get down." Bishop hissed.

_**BBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRR**_

"What the fuck was that?" Ace cried out over the sound, his helmet's audiotory dampeners not responding quickly enough to shut out the noise.  
"I don't kno-" Rose stopped mid sentence, her gaze fixed on a spot on the horizon.  
_"Holy shit…"_  
James followed her gaze, and what he saw made his legs turn to jelly.

It was a great machine, a ship, it was huge and powerful. It looked like a giant crab that had set itself up on its hind legs. Its massive limbs were supporting its weight as it rested over a field just on the outskirts of the colony. It seemed to be looking on towards the spaceport with its compound eyes, flecked with blue lights to where silvery shapes moved about, like ants under the gaze of their queen.

Geth James thought. His eyes following the shapes of the Geth as they set about their work, some of them were patrolling around the spaceport, others seemed to be carrying materials of some sort, and others still, were loading what looked like bodies onto a dropship. James felt his anger swelling as he realized what the machines were doing.  
The Geth were dragging in prisoners, civilians that had surrendered and then executing them, with a single shot to the head before throwing their bodies onto the dropship.  
James watched the massive machine, as it observed the proceedings and although he wasn't quite sure, but he thought he felt something, deep down in his body. Almost like an emotion or an echo of an emotion.  
_Contempt._

James turned away from the grizzly scene and looked over at Bishop. His eyes were still fixed on the spaceport. "Sir. We've got to save them."  
Bishop stared on for a moment longer, before shook his head, "No, we can't. Not yet. We have to wait. We don't have the firepower to take down that ship." he stated, regretfully.  
James felt his temper flare. Bishop couldn't just let innocents die like that without doing something.  
"I'm with Frost on this one, sir." Rose interjected, her normally even tone diffused with emotion. "We can't let those synthetic bastards just execute civvies like that."  
"We cannot risk it. The mission-."  
"We can't just sit here!" Ace interrupted. "They are _slaughtering_ us like fucking animals!"  
"Look I don't like it either, but I we can't help those people by running off and-" Bishop paused, suddenly realizing that there was a dead-zone of sound where James had just been. His head swiveled around, "Where's Frost?"

Rose met the Commander's gaze with a hard stare. Bishop cursed, "_Verdammt!_ That boy is going to get us all killed."

* * *

"Hurry, get that door shut." Sam hissed urgently as Kari shut the door to the barn behind them. Kari did as she was instructed, pulling the heavy solid doors to close with an echoing slam.  
"What are they? Batarians? Turians?" Ellie whispered in a low tone, as she dared a glance out of one of the barn's windows which had a clear view of the colony some miles away. Kari had been watching the entire time, she shook her head as if to deny what her eyes had seen and her ears had heard "No," she mumbled, her voice sounding as distant to her as an echo, "They are Geth."

"Geth?" Ellie inhaled sharply. She had heard the story from Kari more than once about the Geth, the creations of the Quarian people that had rebelled and driven their masters from their homeworld of Rannoch. It was because of the Geth that Kari and the rest of her people had to live on the Migrant Fleet.

"What are they doing here?" Mrs Ellis asked, her voice housing both curiosity and trepidation as followed Kari's gaze.  
Kari had never seen the Geth before, no one had, except in the old vids on the extranet. They had been like a myth that old Quarian mothers told their children. No one had seen them beyond the Perseus Veil in three centuries, but their ships were unmistakable, even as they swooped in on the colony, lighting up the horizon in fiery blasts of light and dulled sound.

Kari broke her gaze, she couldn't watch anymore… she turned to Mrs Ellis, who looked like she was hoping that Kari had an answer why they were doing this.  
"I don't kn-  
Sam who had been silent up to that point turned on his heel, he had watched the scene from behind the two women as it played out. He marched towards the back right corner of the room where a large worktable with various tool sprawled across its surface, ages of dust and debris had accumulated on both the table. Sam threw the table aside, sending the tools flying with strength that belied his age. Ellie watched with wide eyes as her husband did, not sure what exactly was going on, but his purpose became clear soon enough. There was an ancient burlap rug that lay across the floor beneath the table. It was old, worn and torn in many places. He ripped up the rug, sending a cloud of dust into the air, revealing a hidden door to a compartment beneath the barn.  
"Sam…what are-"

But before she could ask further, Sam had the trapdoor open. Ellie gasped as she looked within. There were assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, grenades and what looked like full set of combat armour, all of it was military grade. Ellie covered her mouth with her hand, her voice shaky when she spoke at last.  
"Sam…what is all this?"

Sam looked up and met the eyes of his wife and Kari for the first time since he had seen the ship. He looked, sad, regretful, but with a fire in his eyes that Kari had never seen before.  
"Honey…" he began, his mouth somewhat dry as he searched for the resolve to say what needed to be said. "I lied to you…" he admitted. His eyes watered a bit as the words choked from his throat "I told you I was in the Marines, but that was only half the truth…" he began, as he reached down for an assault rifle, pulling the relic up into his hands. "I wanted to tell you for so long…but I couldn't…I never thought there would be a day when I would need these again…and I didn't want to burden you."

"Sam…" Ellie began, but the old man shook his head, standing up to his full height, the usual slump in his gait was gone when he walked over to her, very much a proud soldier as he stood before her.  
Ellie reached up, her wrinkled hand caressing his face gently as a tear rolled down her cheek.  
"You idiot…" she gasped tearfully, a soft smile forming on her lips. "You know I'll always love you… whatever happened, and whatever happens…that will never change."  
Sam took her hand softly in his and for a moment, Kari almost felt as if time stood still.

There was an unusually loud explosion in the distance; Kari looked outside the window again, to see the giant Geth ship blasting away at what looked like an armoured platoon. Human marines and tanks scattered as the ship cut a swath of destruction across the verdant landscape with a giant red beam of energy issued forth from just under one of its claws. Bits of scrap metal and bodies flew into the air as the beam met with another tank's hull, utterly destroying it.

"Come on…" Mr Ellis said, grabbing the arms of the women. "You have to get going, both of you." He said, placing something small and circular in each of their palms. Kari looked down at it, it was a small cloaking field generator. It was of somewhat primitive design, what looked like a prototype unit. Its edges were worn and its power source seemed to run a bit on the warm side, she could feel the heat even through her suit's gloves.

"You need to get out of here. The space port isn't far, and with those marines distracting that leviathan, you might have a good shot at getting off-planet before they get there."  
Kari looked up at Sam, stunned beyond words, she couln't believe what was happening still.  
"Take Ellie with you. I'll stay here and make sure you two have a clear escape route."  
_"Bullshit."_Ellie spat, it was the first time Kari had ever heard her curse.  
"I'm not leaving you to die, Sam." She declared vehemently, pushing the cloaking generator back into Sam's hand.  
"Ellie…" Sam began to say, his voice tender and comforting.  
"Don't 'Ellie' me, Samuel David Ellis, that may have worked when we were younger, but I'm not letting you do this." Mr Ellis crossed her arms and scowled.  
"I said for better or worse, and I meant it…and don't think you're getting off the hook when we are dead either. Plan to be right on your heels to heaven, Mister Ellis."

Kari looked at Mrs Ellis, then to Mr Ellis…she wasn't quite sure what to do…she wanted to laugh, but she wanted to cry too. It was all so confusing. Mrs Ellis grabbed the assault rifle out of Mr Ellis's hands and cocked back the receiver, seating a thermal clip into position.  
"I'll be damned if these synthetic bastards are going to take my home." She growled, as she turned towards the weapons locker and stepped past Sam.  
Mr Ellis looked over at Kari, with both a look of mild surprise, and a grim grin.  
That's why I married her.

"You should go, dearie." Mrs Ellis said after a long moment's pause, handing Kari a shotgun from the locker and the second cloaking generator.  
"Those marines won't last much longer…" she said rather grimly. Kari turned to Mrs Ellis and then back to Mr Ellis. She could see it in their eyes, they wanted her to leave. Kari shook her head. No, she wasn't going to abandon them, she was going to stay and fight, even if she wasn't a soldier, she couldn't let them die. Not like this… there had to be another way.

"No.." Kari began, "I won't le-"  
"Kari…" Sam interrupted her, already knowing what she was going to say, "We have lived a long and happy life." He looked at Ellie with a little smile.  
"We are going to be okay…"  
"But the Geth…" Kari began again, her voice starting to crack.  
Sam smiled, he put a hand on the young Quarian's shoulder. "There's an old verse… from a book that was written long ago, in a time when human civilization was in its infancy."  
Kari looked at his hand as it rested on her shoulder, her eyes began to water and sting.  
"What does it say?" she managed, through soft gasps.  
_"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever."_

Kari looked up at the Ellis's, tears flowing down her cheeks softly. She couldn't help herself, she flung her arms around them both in a hug, as she sobbed, unrestrained. They Ellis's return her hug, and the three stood together for a long moment in reverent silence.  
"W-What does it mean…?" Kari managed at last, trying to choke back her emotions.  
"It means, that whatever happens…we will meet again…" Mrs Ellis cooed, her own voice starting to crack a bit.

When they finally broke their embrace, Kari stood before them, lingering…she was studying their faces…she always wanted to remember them as they were in this moment... but she knew she couldn't tarry much longer…the explosions were starting to get louder and more frequent.  
"Here." Sam placed something in her hand. It was the spark plug she had pulled from the tractor. It was badly damaged and still covered in residue, but the symbolism that Mr Ellis intended was clear.  
Even broken things can make a difference.

"Now go…Kari'Vereah Nar Vanya…and always know…that no matter where you are, someone loves you."

It was the last words that Kari ever heard the Ellis's say, for in that moment, their life together came to a close.

* * *

James moved quietly through the compound. It wasn't his first time going dark into hostile territory. He had turned his transponder and comms off. They were potential detection risks, and he wasn't about to be dissuaded from his current task. The way he figured it, he couldn't be tried for insubordination, if he never heard the orders in the first place….  
But James already knew he was in for it, going AWOL during a mission usually meant some disciplinary action like KP duty for a month, or cleaning the ship's head with a toothbrush. Hell, he could even face court-marshal, but if it meant saving even one innocent life…it was a risk he was willing to take.

James edged up around the outside of the spaceport, his target was a door wrenched off its hinges with the words _"Employees O-"_stamped on it. The rest of the words had been atomized when the door was blown in by what looked like a plasma weapon discharge. Yet whoever had made the breach seemed to be long gone.

He slipped inside the door, his back flat against the wall as he observed his surroundings. There was a long hallway of glass windows. Offices, for the local port authorities, by the looks of it, that stretched on some distance, leading into what looked like a reception area. James edged his way down the hall, keeping his eyes scanning for any signs of movement or life.  
There were none, for the most part, everyone that had been here was either gone, or dead. Broken glass lay across the floor in some areas, which James carefully avoided with his slow advance. He saw a few bodies as well…an older woman, slumped over her desk…a young man…with three scorch marks on his chest, laying propped up against the wall and a short bald man sprawled across the floor clutching a datapad in one hand and oval frame glasses in the other, his brown eyes staring lifelessly up at the ceiling.

James pressed on, he couldn't dwell on their fates now. There was nothing to be done for the dead…  
After several agonizing minutes, he finally came to the reception area of the terminal. It was a sparest decorated thing, mostly functional with a few odd paintings hung to give the place a more homey feel, but most of it was disheveled or damaged. Scorch pocked the walls and there were several pools of congealed blood where bodies had fallen but were later moved.  
From what he could tell, most of the trails ran out front to where the Geth dropship had landed and was still taking on bodies from what James could see. The Geth seemed to be unaware of his presence, their attention focused outwards, towards the fields, where logic dictated a counter-attack was likely to come from. They hadn't expected a lone Alliance soldier to sneak around the back.

James pondered a way to get out there, to see if he could find where the Geth were holding their prisoners so he could free them…but even has he did he noticed something strange.  
While most of the blood trails led outside, there were a few that led towards the car rental offices. They were rather faint, and well scuffed-over…but they were there.  
Odd…  
James moved around the hallway, sliding from cover to cover across the reception area towards rental desk. He was almost there when he heard it. A faint whimper… it sounded soft, and feminine but it was there, followed by a hard mechanical stuttering sound. He froze, _footfalls..._James slipped himself quietly into a dark corner under a desk.

From under the desk he saw two pairs of feet moving across the floor of the reception area, but they were not human feet. They had two toes, silver and black and hand cables terminating just above the ankle.  
Geth.  
The stuttering noise sounded again…the pairs of feet spread out across the room…searching the room. Evidentially they had heard it too, and whoever had made the sound. They patrolled around the room, checking corners; looking down the hallways…they even came rather close to where James was hiding. However, after about five minutes, the pair gave up and went back into the adjacent room. James saw an opportunity…and he followed them quickly and quietly hoping and praying that they wouldn't turn back to see the human soldier following them.  
They didn't.  
James followed them a few steps more before ducking behind the rental car customer service desk. He looked over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't been detected, making sure to tuck his arms and legs out of sight. His heart was still pounding and his hands trembled from the rushing adrenaline, but he in position…and he had found what he was looking for.

The rental car office wasn't all that large in itself, but it had a direct line of sight with landing pad outside as well as access to the garage, which James supposed probably contained more Geth soldiers. There were 3 Geth still in the room, guarding what looked to be the last two prisoners. Sitting on the floor, an asari of what looked like relatively young years with a Turian male propped up against her. The woman seemed to be in good condition aside from being frightened, but the Turian looked if he had taken a shot or two to the chest. Blue blood was smeared all over his and her clothes as the asari woman held his head close to her chest, caressing his face comfortingly as the Turian took labored breaths.  
James scooted closer to the prisoners. He could hear humming, no…singing…. A gentle lullaby that he hadn't heard since he was a child.

_"White gulls are calling…across a distant shore…"_Aesha sang softly, her hands tracing the line's of her bond-mate's face. Tears starting to form in the cusp of her eyes as she looked out across the landscape of Eden Prime.  
_"The ships have come…to carry you home… "_  
"That's beautiful…" Tullius murmured, coughing as he shifted uncomfortably in his lover's arms.  
"Shhh… don't speak love…" Aesha whispered her voice steady as she could make it.  
"If you say so…" he grinned, closing his eyes as he snuggled up to her. For a moment, he almost forgot the pain. Just being in her arms was enough to chase darkness from his mind.  
"I could get used to this." He chuckled, followed by another bloody cough. "You, babying me like some old broken warrior…it's nice." He mused teasingly.  
Aesha couldn't help but give a small, tearful smile. "You _are_ an old broken warrior…but you're _my_ old broken warrior." she entwined her fingers with his.  
He looked over his shoulder up at her, "Nice to know I belong somewhere…I couldn't think of a better way to face the end…than with you."  
Aesha started to cry again, silent tears that rolled off her cheek. She couldn't find the words to say…there were none.

The lead Geth, the one facing towards the landing strip gave a short stutter of binary. A pair silver metallic arms reached down, wrapping the Turian and dragging him out of Aesha's arms.  
"No! No! You can't! Please!" she protested, jumping to her feet. She rushed towards the three, but the lead Geth restrained her. "He didn't do anything! Please! You can't take him!"  
Tullius was draped between the two Geth, he looked up at her, his face one of calm and resignation.  
"Shhh… It's okay… Aesh…"  
Aesha clawed and scrapped, trying to get past the machine that held her in place. "No. Not like this!" she cried out, feeling so helpless…so alone in that moment.

_"I believe the lady asked you to put the Turian down…gear-head."_

Aesha turned to look over to where the sound of the voice came from. A human, in full battle armour was aiming down the scope of his assault rifle right at the Geth's head.

_"Release them…or I'll turn you into scrap."_

Kari felt her heart soar as the human uttered those words. She had been hiding in one of the spaceport's supply closets for some time now, she had used the cloaking field generators to slip past the Geth unnoticed after she left the Ellis's house. She had wanted to get to her ship which was on the landing pad, thankfully undamaged, but the large Geth presence made it impossible, not to mention the huge walking crab thing they had brought along with them. So she had been forced to remain in this cramped closet with the cleaning equipment…forced to wait for the Geth to leave. Kari had watched the Geth bring in the colonists, a few at a time and gather them in the next room over. One by one taking them outside…for what, she didn't want to think about. She tried to imagine the gunshots she heard as the colonists that were still free fighting back against the Geth, and dying in a brave final stand…but the shots were too regular…too patterned... Her mind knew that her heart refused to believe: they were being executed, and she had to listen to it.

It was maddening, she had sat there for what felt like days, just listening…to the shots…one right after the other. She had curled up into a ball, pressing her hands against the fabric around her ears. It didn't help. Sometimes she would hear crying…that made it worse….

When she had first seen the human slip into the reception room, she felt her heart flutter. Had the Alliance finally come for them? Where there entire battalions of Marines landing right now on Eden Prime to rescue them? Could they be in time to save the Ellis's? She couldn't help but give a soft whimper of tearful hope…and it had been a lot louder than she had expected. She had almost gotten the both discovered, but luckily the human soldier was as stealthy as he was intimidating…and now he was staring down the barrel of a gun at the Geth who had killed so many.

"I said let them go." James growled, "I won't say it again."  
The three Geth looked at each other for a moment, the flaps around their optics flaring as they gave a short binary stutter of conversation.  
The two dropped the Turian instantly, the leader shoved the asari aside as all reached for their weapons. They were fast, but the human was faster. James popped a single shot out of his rifle, blowing a hole the size of a small peach through the side of the lead Geth's head. He snapped to the other two, putting a trio of rounds through each one's chest plates. The Geth on the left dropped instantly into a sparking mass of circuitry while the other used the momentum of the shots impact to spin itself into cover.  
It rose to its knees awkwardly, intent on taking a shot with its pulse rifle, but before it could, James had closed the range and with a grunt of force unleashed a wave of biotic energy down his right arm right into the face of the creature. Its optics burst in a shower of sparks as it went flying backwards, smashing into the wall with a dull thud.

"Shit." James cursed as he rushed over to the Asari and the Turian. Aesha was kneeling next to Tullius, still laying where the Geth had dropped him, clutching his wounds.

"Owch." He inflected with a slightly jovial tone. "Think you could have asked them to let me down easy, human?"  
James looked up. The Geth were heading their way…and the giant ship…it was…leaving?  
He couldn't quite believe what he saw…but the Geth's dreadnought had lifted off and was heading back up into space…along with a sizable portion of the Geth's forces.

James felt relief and dread all in the same moment, but now was not the time to dwell on either. He heard several buzzing zips pass close to his head as the remaining Geth opened fire on his position.  
James returned fire, putting down a light suppressing barrage as he backed up towards the fallen Turian "Can you get him up? We have got to move!" James yelled over the din.  
Aesha nodded, dragging Tullius's arm around her shoulder "I'll try…I can't quite…" Aesha grunted with exertion, trying to lift the much heavier Turian all by herself.

_"I'll help!"_  
James turned towards the origin of the unfamiliar voice. It was a Quarian female. She was looking up at him with an anxious, pensive look, like a child meeting their hero or at least that's what her body language suggested. James blinked. Several questions popped into his mind at that point, but a Geth pulse round to his shields cut the thoughts short.  
"Help them." He said simply, turning back towards the Geth, popping the head of the unit that had shot at him.  
Kari felt a sense of resounding hope as she scrambled to help the couple. It was the first time since this whole ordeal started that she was actually able to do something. She took the other side of the Turian, lifting him up on her shoulders and together with Aesha, they were able to carry him away from the battle.

After a few moments dragging him down the hallway, the Asari spoke:

"Where are we going?" Aesha yelled to make herself heard over the battle.  
"Take a left, we can get him to him to my ship." Kari replied loudly.  
"Oh…great…I'm going to be dead _and_deaf. Perfect." Tullius chuckled weakly, spitting up more blood.

James took up the rear guard, knocking down Geth soldiers as they popped up to take shots at him. With each shot he felt his adrenaline spike, sending pulses of energy down from his brain into his arms where he pooled it, focused it and then unleashed it in blasts of biotic power, sending clusters of the Geth troopers flying.  
However, every time he did, he had to take his barriers down, and rely on his suit's shields to keep him unharmed. So far it had worked, but more Geth were coming in, and faster…

He backed up, to the reception desk in the center of the room, sending out a quick burst of electrical power from his omni-tool to overload the Geth units following him before he mantled over it and threw his back flush to the metal of the desk. He dared a quick glance down the hallway: the survivors had made it more than halfway. They would be outside soon and there were several ships on the pads. James hoped that Quarians were as good at hacking into computers as their reputations suggested.

Another flurry of rounds cut his thoughts short…James pressed himself closer to the desk… hoping that the metal would protect him from the worst of it. which suddenly felt very warm… He turned around to see that the wooden decorative front of the reception desk had caught fire._"Incendiaries."_ He thought venomously…his hatred beginning to pool his power into another biotic burst.  
Just another reason to make sure that none of these bastards made it off-world in one piece.

* * *

"Push up! Go Go Go!" Bishop shouted as the three moved across the cargo yard, pressing their advance, and moving from cover to cover. He had been trying to raise Lt. Irving on the squad frequency ever since he had slipped away from the rest of the group. Bishop had expected the worst, Frost dead, the team compromised and getting atomized by the gamma burst of a thermonuclear blast.

Suprisingly, it had been just the opposite…whatever Frost had done, it had worked. The enemy dreadnaught had left disengaged along with the bulk of the Geth forces and the majority of those left were being drawn off somehow.

"Suppressing fire! Move it up!" Bishop shouted again, popping only the slightly faction of his head from cover as he unleashed a torrent of gunfire and energy from his suit, overloading the circuits of several troopers on the crane overlooking the yard.  
The dull boom of Rose's Widow followed, and two of the troopers found themselves without a head.  
"Damn, you're good." Ace congratulated just before picking off the other one with his M-8.  
"Was there ever any doubt?" Rose boasted playfully, her hands working the weapon's bolt to slide a fresh thermal clip and round into position.

Bishop frowned. "Come on, omni-tool says the target is close we have got to move." He chided them, breaking from cover and sprinting across the last section of the yard. Their joviality irritated him, there was a time and place for jokes, but when one of their own was on the line….  
Rose and Ace followed quickly on his heels, snapping their backs flush to crates just left and right of Bishop as he peeked over his crate to check for hostiles in the courtyard.

The courtyard was a fairly open space, one of the nicer parts of the colony's spaceport, it was rather large about the size of a football field and was separated into sections by chest-high rows of hedges and other assorted plants, giving it the distinct look of a garden. There were four fountains placed at the four separate corners of the courtyard like the points of a compass, with stone paths leading towards the convergence at a reflecting pool in the center of the yard. It would have been rather a picturesque scene had it not been for the vast swaths of blackened soil and the corpses impaled on unusual looking spikes they had seen before.

"Contact?" Bishop whispered.  
"Negative." Came back from both soldiers, other than the spikes, there were no traces of the Geth.  
Bishop gave a silent hand gesture, indicating the other two to spread out. Together they moved into the courtyard, keeping low behind the hedges, working their way up towards the building. There was gunfire in the distance, on the other side of the complex from what Bishop could tell, likely Frost or survivors holding out against the Geth.  
Part of Bishop wanted to go charging off to help them, but if they failed to disarm the bomb, then all they would be doing is buying them a few more minutes of life.

"We are close…" Rose nodded, looking at her omni-tool scans. "It should be right…about…here…"

Bishop edged around the corner cautiously. There was no sign of enemy contact, but there was a rather large device seated directly in the waters of the reflecting pool. Bishop flicked his wrist and together the three of them moved up to the device, stepping into the knee deep pool. Bishop placed his left hand on it, his omni-tool lighting up in a dull orange glow as it attempted to automatically hack the bomb's systems. After a moment's pause, his omni-tool beeped in frustration.  
"Doesn't look like it's been armed yet." Bishop noted with a sigh of relief, it was an pleasant surprise considering there had been no enemy forces on site.

"Ace, can you crack it?"

"Aye." Ace nodded, "Give me a tic, and I'll have this WMD turned into the world's largest paperweight." He mused, cracking his knuckles dramatically and setting to work.  
Bishop gave a curt nod of approval, before checking setting his omni-tool for any sign of a remote detonator, or booby traps.  
"Ummm…sir…" Keira said, tapping Bishop on the shoulder.

"What?" Bishop turned to the sergeant, slightly annoyed at being interrupted, but before he could say anything else, his eyes met with what she was staring at.  
For the first time in many years, Bishop felt a sense of dread as he beheld the gruesome sight before him. One of the desiccated corpses that had been impaled on the spikes…was _moving_. Not only moving, but the spike was retracting, dropping it onto the ground, releasing them from its hold.  
_"Mein Gott…"_Bishop managed his voice thin and pale. "They're still alive."

Just as Bishop was about to go help the colonist, it turned to face them…Bishop looked on with horror as the creature stared at them…but not with eyes…the eyes were gone, replaced by optics…like that of a mech. Its gray dead skin was interlaced with tubing and wires, that ran the length of its body, all converging on what looked like a power node in the center of the abdomen, where it had been previously impaled. The sight of it made Bishop feel physically ill, nauseated. It watched them, with a dead expression on its face, a look of neither understanding or comprehension…only hunger. Whatever it was, its humanity had been stripped away, leaving only a husk. The creature looked up, their eyes meeting and for a moment everything was quiet. Bishop could almost seen the features of the person that had once been, a man, with a strong chin and high cheekbones.  
The thing seemed to sense Bishop's stare…its face contorted and a thick guttural roar issued from its lips.

Keira was the first to act. With a growl of disgust, she snapped her rifle up and with a single shot, ended the creature's miserable existence.  
"Not anymore, they aren't." she stated, her voice filled with both contempt and hatred. "The bastards will pay for what they have done here."

Bishop was about to reply, when a sudden cascade of guttural roars issued forth from the far end of the courtyard.  
It was in that moment Bishop realized why there had been no Geth on site when they had found the bomb. Why waste your own soldiers when you can use the enemy's own dead against them?

"Ace…" Bishop called out as a tide of grey and blue washed towards them.  
"You might want to hurry up with that bomb…"

* * *

"Shit, shit, shit!"

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM

James scrambled down the hallway, darting as fast as he could from cover to cover as he made his retreat. The Geth were on his tail, harring him every setp of the way. He had been able to keep them at bay, but then they had brought in one of the big ones. James didn't know what it was, only that it was twice as large as any of the other Geth and at least three times as smart. The large red Geth led the pursuit down the hallway, blasting as it went, large balls of superheated plasma impacting the ceiling, walls and floors with the force of a rocket. James scrambled to the next piece of cover which was I this case a rather battered metal door hanging off its hinges.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM

Three rounds hit the metal, vaporizing it in the first shot, the two other slammed into James's chest, sending him flying painfully down the hallway past the door he had used to enter the building earlier.  
"Hhhhrrrrrrkkkk" he groaned, pulling himself up with sheer force of will, his shields and barriers had taken the worst of it, but the ablative surface of his chest plate glowed a dull red from the heat. Inside his helmet, the suit's computer whirred and moaned with the stress, trying to process all the data it was receiving. The suit's environmental systems flushed the compartment with icy cold air, and pulsed electrical currents through the plates, trying to re-establish shields.  
James got to his knees shakily, half-crawling and half falling into cover behind one of the docking clamps anchoring a shuttle to the platform.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM came the sound of the lead Geth's plasma cannon again, followed by the much shorter twittering of trooper's  
plasma rifles.

"Fuck." James cursed, still not fully recovered from the last barrage, as the impacts shook the clamp. His suit had barely just re-established shields, and already the sheer power of the electromagnetic interference given off by the lead Geth's blasts were disrupting them again, not to mention his head was still swimming, and therefore bade establishing a barrier an impossibility. James thought of calling for backup from his squad, but he knew they would be far too late to help him...

For a moment, James considered the very real possibility that he might not make it out alive. That this, might be it, his final moments…  
Thoughts of home and childhood came to his mind, friends and family, comrades long since dead. Yet, even as it was a rather sobering realization, to face ones death…James found it oddly peaceful. He always suspected his life would end like this, fighting to protect the innocent. It was something he had made peace with long ago, that he would not die in bed, that he would never know the joy of children or grandchildren. It was okay. He would die, so that someone else could have that. His only regret, was that he couldn't save more.

James found his strength, it poured like a fount from his brains, rushing down his spine into his limbs, renewing them, filling them for one last act of defiance.  
James looked over the side of the docking clamp. The Geth had just advanced out of the hallway, and were still bunched up in a large cluster around the lead Geth.  
James narrowed his eyes…he had one shot…his limbs twitched and his hands trembled, his form starting to glow with a soft blue with biotic energy.  
BOOM-BOOM-

"NOW!" he cried out, darting from his hiding spot with a battle cry on his lips, shotgun in hand. He rushed forward, sprinting at full pelt, not even breaking his stride as the three projectiles in air smashed into the ground nearby, sending waves of heat and debris crashing into James. He kept his cool, pressing on the deepest reserves of his body. He blasted away with his shotgun, closing the gap quickly, smashing through the vanguards like a tidal shotgun clicked empty, he tossed it aside. His biotic energy surged and he charged forward, battering away any of the Geth foolish enough to stand between him and his target. He drew his arm behind him in a sweeping motion, as he concentrated all his power into a singular attack against the lead Geth. With everything he could muster, James brought his fist forward, punching through the thick armour and shields of the large Geth and sending a pulse of biotic energy into its core. The unit sputtered and crackled as its systems overloaded and its circuits fused.

With the last vestige of his strength, James picked up the lead Geth and with a mighty grunt of exertion, threw it as hard as he could into crowd of remaining Geth troopers; the leader exploding into a shower of fiery debris, shredding the smaller units to pieces.

James stood in the middle of the pedway, slumped over, barely standing his chest heaving and sweat pouring down his face underneath his helmet.  
"Heh…" he managed a weak grin.  
"Hehe he-ha-he…" he chuckled softly, the realization slowly sinking in that he was still alive.  
"Hahahaha! Oh- Ow-" his hand fell to his ribs, the disjointed movement of shattered ribs was the answer to the inquiries of his hand.  
"Never….again…" he murmured softly, turning away from the pile of debris that had once been the Geth.  
He felt lightheaded, his limbs ached and he had a splitting headache from overtaxing his nervous system, but he was alive…and it felt like the best damn thing in the world right now.

Even though his neck protested profusely, James looked up to see if the civilians had made it. At the far end of the pad, about 100 meters out, the Quarian and Asari were opening the door of a shuttle and were gingerly laying the Turian down inside. He thought he noticed the Quarian girl looking at him, but his vision was a bit blurry.  
Nevertheless, James couldn't help but smile…even through the pain.  
"Two for two." He commented to no one in particular. "Damn, I'm good." He chuckled, shortly, before his aching ribs stopped him again.

_"Come in, Frost… do you read?"_  
His suit's radio spattered, static bursts interrupting the channel, but not enough to cause any major distortions.  
"Aye…I read you, sir."  
_"Goddamn it, Frost, it's good to hear your voice. Are you okay? What's your status?"_ Bishop's voice sounded both relieved and concerned.  
"A few minor injuries, sir, hostiles terminated." James spoke with sort, pained gasps of words.  
_"Good. We have been trying to reach you for over an hour now. The bomb has been defused, and the fleet's here. What's your location; we will come pick you up."_

Frost looked up again at the shuttle, the Quarian he had seen early had noticed his distress and was rushing towards him quickly. The prospect of having someone to lean on was very appealing to James…he limped forwards, his steps faltering a bit as he shuffled on.

"I'm at docking port 27 with three survivors. Turian, Asari, Quarian. Turian's hit- bad-, get- doctor…" his vision was starting to get blurrier.  
_"Roger that, Frost. Hang tight, we're on our way. Bishop out."_

James stumbled forward, he waved his arm to the girl in greeting as she came closer. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like the Quarian had stopped mid-step. His vision was worsening by the second, but it looked like she reached for something, but James couldn't tell what it was. His brain was too busy grasping at consciousness to understand that the Quarian girl was aiming down her shotgun.

And then he felt it, like the sun burns away a morning fog, so too was reality brought back into sharp focus….by excruciating pain. James opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out, only waves of heat and the sickly smell of burning flesh that filled his nostrils. Then it hit him…it was his flesh. His eyes flew open wide…as he fell to his knees.

This was it…he was done…he wondered what he'd feel, what he'd see… all he saw the flash of a shotgun blast and the muted sound of pellets flying over his head.

_No…wait…_  
His mind screamed, clawing desperately at the last moment of consciousness.  
The visor of the Quarian girl was the last thing James saw…and then everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4: Line of Duty

**Chapter 4: Line of Duty**

Kari pulled the trigger. She felt the mass accelerator punch forward as a flurry of incandesant rounds reached out towards her target. The Geth hunter who had been too interested in its kill previously to be either aware or troubled by her presence looked up just in time to see the sand-sized pellets strike it in the face. The power behind the blast was more that enough to shatter its shields and rip dozens of tiny holes in its head.  
_Err-err-err-ooor  
Critical Dam-_  
A circuit akin to a major artery in the Geth's brain exploded.  
The Geth's black form slumped and fell backwards, its head still smoking and leaking lubricant.

Kari let the shotgun drop from her hands. She had fired a weapon before…but never in anger…and never at another sapient creature, not even a Geth….but she didn't have time to think about it now.

The human, who had come to rescue that laying face down at her feet, two smoking great holes in his back nearly equidistance from each other. The tissue around the wounds was blackened and fused with the armour in a nasty looking red-black mess and the smell of overcooked meat, ozone and burnt plastic wafted up to Kari. Even through her suit's filters, the smell was overpowering. Kari couldn't help but gag. Despite the nauseating smell, Kari kneeled down, quickly gathering her strength as she pulled his arm around her shoulder. He was heavy, and tall…his body was nothing but dead weight on her as she threw her other arm between his legs like her father had taught her and hefted him up over her shoulders.  
Her body strained at the load, she wasn't used to lifting heavy objects, much less a fully armoured soldier. She closed the distance remarkably quickly to her shuttle nevertheless, and with the help of the Asari woman, she managed to get the human down on her cot next to the Turian.

Tullius had been cracking jokes with Aesha, even though he had banged up pretty badly. He knew that she was worried about him, the way she was fussing over every little move that he made.  
"Come on, Aesh…I've had worse." He sputtered, his voice playful but tinged with pain.  
"I've had your Turian cooking. Believe me…compared to that, this is a flesh wound."  
Aesha gave him a small smile, but her face was still contracted in concern.  
"You just lie still and keep quiet. The Quarian girl will be back soon, and then we will get you to a hospital."  
Tullius smiled, "Hospital? Woman, you are over-reacting. Rub a little dirt on it, it'll heal up fine."  
Aesha shook her head, "More of your father's military remedies?"  
Tullius nodded, with a chuckle. "Only the best for his darling boy."

Tullius knew his wound was critical, he knew that he was hemorrhaging internally and that every second without proper medical attention meant the likelihood of his death was increased.  
But Tullius felt that death wasn't something to be feared. Indeed, it was the ultimate unknown, the adventure that waited for all at the end of days. He wasn't quite ready for his own yet, but he wasn't going to let a little thing like death stop him from making the one he loved smile.  
She had such a pretty smile…

Tullius couldn't help himself. He grinned from ear to ear, as much as a Turian that is until the Quarian girl brought the human that had saved them into the shuttle. Tullius's smile disappeared. As much as he didn't fear for his life, he didn't have the same stipulations about the lives of others.

Tullius watched as the Quarian girl and Aesha lowered the soldier onto the cot very carefully next to him. He scooted aside, as best he could to make room for the injured human. He noticed two scorch marks in the human's back, the impacts were deep, they carved out two nearly identical craters into the human's back. Tullius wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the soft yellow-white gleam of human bone.  
_Plasma burns, bad ones._  
Tullius thought as he shifted slightly on the cot so he could get a better look at the human.  
He was laying rather still, Tullius had no real knowledge of human biology, but the smell that premeated the ship's cabin told him enough. The man was dying, or already dead. He couldn't tell with his helmet on. As carefully as he could, Tullius slipped his hands around the gorget of the death-mask and twisted slightly. There was a soft whirr, and the helmet came free.  
The human's face was rather handsome, young, probably in his second decade from what Tullius knew of human life cycles. His face was rather battered and bruised, a small trickle of congealed blood ran from his right nostril, but otherwise his head was undamaged.  
"Do we have any medi-gel, Aesh?" he managed with a slight groan.  
The Asari looked over at Kari who had taken to the pilot's seat, doing a jump-start of the ship's systems.  
"There's some on the wall over the hatch." Kari responded, her hands flying across the instrument panels, working her best to perform what usually took at least fifteen minutes in less than thirty seconds.

Aesha nodded and opened the small, dirty looking 4x4 box labeled "First Aid." She rummaged through the contents until she found the medi-gel. From the looks of it, it was rather old, and had been sitting in storage for a long time. The package was dusty and yellowed from age, but the gel itself seemed to be no worse for the wear.  
"Got it!" Aesha proclaimed excitedly, even as the deck plating shifted beneath her feet, throwing her slightly off balance. The Quarian was still working feverishly, but from what Tullius could tell by the positive g's and the fleeting sense of vertigo they were off the ground and headed into space. Aesha sat down next to Tullius and loaded the medi-gel into her omni-tool. The orange interface glowed bright blue for a moment, a signal that the gel had been loaded properly. She leaned forward, pulling back the tattered fragment's of Tullius garments where he had been hit.  
"No." he said simply, batting her hand away gently.  
"Give it to him."  
Aesha looked over at the human, his face was starting to drain of colour.  
"He's already gone, Tullius…you're not." She said sadly, but matter-of-factually.  
"No…" Tullius clicked his mandibles together, an Turian gesture for being deadly serious about a matter.  
"Give it to him." He insisted. This human had saved Aesha…and him. He wasn't about to let him die like this.  
Aesha opened her mouth to protest again…but she caught the look in her bond-mate's eye. It was a matter of honour to him…Aesha felt her heart drop into her stomach…but she did as Tullius asked.

"Unidentified shuttle, you are entering restricted Alliance military air-space. Squawk IFF and power down your engines or we will fire on you." Came a hard-lined voice over the radio.  
Kari's mind snapped back to reality. She had been so focused on getting the ship safely into space that she had failed to notice the Alliance fleet staring down the gun-barrel at her tiny ship. The realization that she had endured so much just now to be blown out of the sky by the good guys….  
She felt herself slipping, back into the timid creature that had first left the Migrant Fleet a month ago  
"S-squawk? I-I don't know how to squawk or what it is! Don't shoot us! We are just trying to get away from the Geth!"  
There was a long pause on the other side of the radio, the voice returned.  
"Acknowledged, shuttle, please proceed to the SSV Heathrow's docking bay and await further instructions."  
The console in front of her lit up as the Alliance transmitted codes and data to her ship's computer, allowing her to identify which one of massive warships was the SSV Heathrow.

Kari gulped audibly, her fingers gripping shakily around the ship's yoke.  
"U-Understood…docking now." She managed as she brought the shuttle on an intercept course with the Heathrow's docking bay.  
As she steered the ship into the gaping maw of the carrier's flight deck, she felt a sinking sensation in her stomach, like that of an insect in the mouth of a reptile.  
There on the deck, was a squad of Alliance marines, fully armed and armoured as well as one of those human tanks she had seen earlier…all of them tracking her ship as she made her descent.  
Kari brought the ship down with a soft thud on the deck. Even as she rose from her seat to open the hatch one thought burned into her mind.  
_"Keelah, I hope they don't think I did this."_

* * *

_Rain. Hard rain…cold. Must be winter…smells familiar. Earth? I'm home? Can't be home…still six months till shore leave. Wait… What's that? Voices?  
_  
_**…To fall in the line of duty, protecting the innocent is the greatest calling any soldier can aspire to. His bravery and courage shall be remembered by all those who...**_

_A eulogy? Who died? Someone I know? Oh…yeah that's right…heh guess that was me._

_**Never shall there be another like Lt. James Irving…**_

_Heh, you know… if this is heaven, it isn't too bad._

_**We commend his spirit to you Lord…ashes to ashes…dust to dust…We share the hope that we will meet Lt. Irving in the life to-**_

_Wait...something's not…_

"" James gasped, sensations of light, sound and pain flooding back in, drawing ragged breaths that burned like the hottest flames of hell in his chest, spreading outward across his back. Lights scrawling overhead, sending lances of pain through his eyes into his brain.  
_Pain, pain oh god it HURTS. Make it stop!_

"We've got a pulse. He's still with us. Get me 20 cc's o-"  
Voices like gunshots in his ears, plucking unseen chords in his head, sending tremors of agony through his skull.  
_No! No! Let me die, please it HURTS! I can't breathe! I CAN'T FUCKING BREATHE!_

"Oh my god…he's awake. Get me that sedative, NOW!"  
_A face, pale, blurry, mask over mouth...doctor? A doctor. Blocking lights. Stay, please stay._  
"Lt. Irving, calm down. You're going to be okay. You're at Huerta Memorial. Just hang in there…everything's going to be okay."

_Stop talking. Your voice hurts...wait..._  
_Oh god, why can't I feel m-my-… Just let me…-_

"He's out, EEG shows brainwaves returning to acceptable ranges."  
"Damn it, showing severe cell deterioration from lack of oxygen, get me an IV stat."

Kari cupped her hands over her visor's voice filter as she watched the Citadel's best doctors wheel the wounded soldier away. "Oh Keelah…is he going to be okay?" she said, voicing her thoughts more than asking anyone in particular. She had spent the last hours with the two other survivors and the soldier that had saved them in one of the Alliance carrier's med-bays. The doctors there had done their best, but they lacked the proper equipment to treat someone so badly injured. They had stabilized the soldier the best they could then transferred him to one of the Alliance's frigates, the SSV Normandy, which was traveling to the Citadel.

"I don't know." remarked the older soldier that had arrived on the Heathrow shortly after she did.  
"But these doctors are the best in the galaxy, if there is someone that can save Frost, it's them."  
Kari shook her head, pressing her visor into her hands.  
_This is all my fault. If I had tried to save those people… If I had been braver, or a little faster…_  
"Hey." The man said, putting a hand on her shoulder, as if reading her thoughts. "It's not your fault…" he gave a sympathetic smile. "You did the best you could, that is all any of us can do."

Kari lowered her hands slightly and looked up at him. He was a hard-looking man, like someone that had seen a lot of struggle in his life,. His face was taught but with long creases and his deep brown hair was flecked with pre-mature grey but his smile was kind and his deep emerald eyes were comforting. He reminded Kari a lot of Mr Ellis….

The Ellis's…she hadn't really had time to think about them since she left…so much had happened, and now…they were probably dead.  
"Keelah." She whispered, her knees going weak. It all came flooding back to her, the memories, the trauma, the emotions, and sheer exhaustion. She felt like she could be crushed under their weight.  
"I-I need to sit down." She said at last, her knees buckling as she slipped downwards into a sitting position right there in the middle of the waiting room floor.  
Bishop helped her sit down slowly. Dropping the one knee next to her, his eyes studied the soft glowing dots behind her visor carefully. They were skewed off and away, staring off into the distance blankly. He recognized the symptom, he had seen it many times before. It seemed that some things were universal in the galaxy, evidentally the Thousand Yard Stare was one of those things.  
"You'll be okay." He stated simply, patting her shoulder. "When you have some time, the Alliance would like to know what happened down there…" he paused for a moment, her eyes were still blank and unfocused. "…whenever you're ready." He stood back up, and gave the Quarian one last moment of quiet empathy before turning to go.  
As much he wanted to stay, Bishop had reports to file and debriefings to attend.  
There was nary a moment of rest in the line of duty.

* * *

"Knock knock." Keira said softly as she peaked her head into the hospital room.  
Tullius was laying reclined on the bed, watching vids with Aesha, some comedy about a Human and a Turian who had to end up working together despite their differences to take down a rogue C-Sec officer. Tullius and Aesha looked up from the vid.  
"Come in." Tullius said warmly, pressing the pause button and setting the datapad they had been using to watch on the desk.  
Keira had already changed out of her armour, but she still word her Alliance fatigues and a ringer t-shirt with the N7 logo on it. Her shoulder length brown hair was caught up in a ponytail as always and her soft green eyes seemed to be particularly sharp compared to her pale skin.  
"Staff Sergeant Keira Baines." She said, offering a respectful nod and handshakes for the both of them.  
"I was wondering if you had a minute?" she asked formally. She was here on Alliance business after all, despite the informality of her attire, but she had never been one for strict adherence to regs.  
"Of course. I'm Tullius Arcadian and this is my mate, Aesha Valenia."  
"A pleasure."  
"Likewise, Ms Baines."

Keira eyes glanced over Tullius's bandages, noting the location of the entry wounds. "How are you doing?" she asked, indicating his injuries.  
The Turian grinned impishly, "I've had worse…can't remember when…but I've had worse." He stated simply with a light chuckle.  
"Good to hear, if you're feeling up to it, I'd like to discuss with you what exactly happened on Eden Prime."  
The Turian looked at Aesha with mock surprise, "Oh? Hear that Aesh? A debriefing! Haven't had one of those in awhile."  
Keira raised an eyebrow, "You were in the military?"  
Tullius gave Keira wounded look. "What? Is that so hard to believe? That a Turian that once served in the Imperial fleet has a sense of humor? Oh my fragile heart!"  
Tullius gave an overly elaborate faint.  
"Looks like you should have been a thespian." Keira noted, a smile playing about her lips.  
Tullius laughed heartily until he had to clutch his ribs to keep them in place. "Oh, sure…and while we are at it why don't we see if we can find a Krogan artist or a humble Asari."

"Hey!..I'm sitting right here you know." Aesha shoved his arm playfully. She had known him far too long to take him serious when he got in one of his moods.  
Which was all the time…  
"Sorry, love." He grinned, giving her a peck on the cheek. She just rolled her eyes and shook her head, but couldn't help a smirk.  
"Anyway, back to business. Eden Prime." Tullius nodded, propping himself up against the pillows so he could face Keira more easily.

Keira sat down on one of the chairs; she tapped a few buttons on her omni-tool and set it data collection mode/voice recording.

"So tell me, how the events of the attack take place?" she said, extending her left arm towards Tullius to get a better recording.

"Well…" Tullius began with an even tone, "Me and Aesha were out at the market, chatting with some friends at a café. We had decided that it was too lovely a day to keep cooped up in the store, so we left Adam Daniels, the assistant manager in charge."  
Keira nodded slowly, signifying her interest in the continuance of the tale.

"Anyway, me and Aesh had finished lunch and were having a pleasant stroll in one of the market's gardens when the sky went dark. At first me and Aesh thought it was a cloud or a freighter passing overhead, but then it made this sound… like…"

Tullius held up his hands, and pressed them together.

"Like what?" Keira asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"Like…someone was crushing our heads between their hands." Aesha finished for him…her voice distant and pensive.

"Yeah, exactly! Well, we looked up and there was this giant ship…looked like a big claw of some kind, like an insect or something and it had a whole armada of dropships at its back."

"Geth dropships?" Keira inquired.

"Yeah, we didn't know it then though. Anyway, we took cover in a nearby hedge, and the big ship, the geth dreadnought just started blasting away at everything. The local marines tried to fight it off, but it was too strong. The Geth landed shortly after that, and started rounding everyone up."

"Why would they do that?"

Tullius shrugged, "Don't know. We managed to hide out in the bushes for a few hours before they found us. I didn't have a weapon, so I went toe-to-toe with the bastards. I killed five of them before they got me down."

Keira looked surprised, "You killed five armed Geth in hand to hand combat? At the same time?"

The Turian cracked a mischievous grin, "Don't my current situation fool you, I used to be Spec Ops back in the day, Ms Baines. The whole grocer thing didn't come along till after I met Aesh."

Aesha nodded reluctantly, "Guilty as charged. As much as the whole, 'saving the galaxy' thing was charming, it gave me a lot of sleepless nights when he was on deployment."

Tullius nodded, "Yeap. Most of the time fruit won't kill you…unless it's levo-amino fruit." He gave a mock scowl, "They're tricky bastards."

Keira chuckled, she was going to have to do some editing later if she was going to give this to Alliance brass. After the moment had passed she sat up straight again, in order to pursue her original line of questioning.

"So what did the Geth want with Eden Prime?"

Tullius shrugged, "I don't know. They seemed awfully intent on killing us all. That was the only objective I saw. I'm not sure if it was a raid, or they were looking for something, or if we all knew something they didn't want us to know…hell it makes no difference. All I know is a lot of good people are dead because of those synthetic bastards, and I think we should do something about it."

Keira was taken aback by Tullius's change in tone. He had gone from laughing and cutting up, to deadly serious in the space of a paragraph. The Turian scowled gravely.  
"Whatever we do, we need to do it now, before we lose more innocent lives."  
Aesha looked concerned, "Tully…"

"No, Aesh…I lost friends today, people I'd known for years. Don't ask me to forget about them, I won't."

Aesha gave Tullius a sympathetic frown. "I lost friends too, Tully…but shouldn't we honour their memory b-"

Tullius shook his head, already knowing what she was going to say. "No. We don't honour them by just going on living like nothing happened. We go and make the bastards pay for what they did. You can't just expect me to-"

Keira had already turned the omni-tool's recorder off and slipped out of the room, the voices of Tullius and Aesha following her several feet into hall, despite the noise dampening doors that Heurta used.  
She would have to do some editing, but it would be good enough for Bishop's After-action report to HQ. She felt herself wishing that James was around.  
As she passed the OR, she noticed the red "Do not enter, Surgery in progress." Light was still on…it had been over seven hours now, and there had been little to no word on James's condition. She found such thoughts troubling. She had gotten to know the LT rather well over the last few years, she had always imagined him being there with them, and now...well it just didn't seem like Frost was going to be with them much longer.  
Keira wasn't sure if the LT would pull through, or even what kind of state he would be in if he did, but Keira held on to a smallhope that he would be back kicking ass with them in no time and that was enough to make her smile.

* * *

Kari had sat on the floor for a long time, she wasn't quite sure how long. Hours? Days? She wasn't quite sure. She had been going over in her mind, every moment since she first stepped foot on Eden Prime. From the little bald man, to the Ellis's and the attack, it all replayed in her mind like some old vid about the homeworld.

She had tried to block out the images, especially the ones that she didn't want to relive. The people on spikes, the Geth executing the colonists, the giant...thing…that sound…still now felt like it was squeezing her head. Vibrating and churning her thoughts around. Every time she thought of that sound, it made her relive the images of death and destruction in her mind, which in turn caused her to think more of the sound.

It was a cycle, thoughts like water circling a drain into madness. She shook her head vigorously. No, she wouldn't let herself succumb to despair. She was a Quarian, she knew how tough life could be, she had lived it all her life. Struggle and hardship were just another part of the greater cycle. There was love and friendship too.

She decided to concentrate on that, she thought of her family, of her mother and father on the fleet, who were still waiting for her to return. They had never seen visor-to-visor, but she knew they loved her.

And the Ellis's, she would never forget their kindness, even if they had died, she remembered their words.  
"We will meet again."

She pondered this thought for a moment. She knew there were races that were deeply spiritual, her own people even believed that the ancestors were watching over the fleet and that they would be reunited someday in the place beyond this galaxy.

But Kari had never really thought about it before, not deeply. What had made them so sure they would see Kari again? She didn't doubt that they meant what they said, but the logistics of the concept seemed hard to fathom.

If there was an afterlife, would humans and quarians go to different places? Would they go to the same place, and if so, what would it be like?  
The thoughts sloshed around in her head for awhile, her mind trying to comprehend exactly what the Ellis's meant. In the end she had deconstructed the theories so far that her head hurt. "Keelah." She muttered as she placed a hand to her temple and soothingly rubbed it.

Sometimes she really hated being a Quarian…well…not really, but she thought her people were probably too curious for their own good.  
She smiled a bit, thinking of what Mr Ellis would say to that revelation…  
_"Hell, girl, I could have told you that from day one."_

She smiled again, this time sadly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the broken spark plug that they had given her.

_**"We will meet again, I swear it. Keelah Se'lai."**_

* * *

"I don't think you quite understand son." Came the all the familiar voice from across the table. The older man rubbed his eyes wearily.  
He had put his teacup down on the table, steam rising slowly filling the air with the warm scent bergamont and sugar.  
"Once you sign on the dotted line, that's it, you are theirs for however long they want to keep you." He put his face in his hand, they were tough, leathery things tanned from years of labour. He ran his fingers down the length of his face, and over his mouth before letting it drop back onto the table.  
"Are you sure you want to do this?"  
James furrowed his brow, bracing himself for the inevitable.  
"Yes, father. I do." He stated plainly, directly.  
Gavin's gaze dropped to his tea again, mindlessly stirring it with one of the silver spoon's from his wife's silverware set.  
James knew what was coming next, yet it never seemed to help when it came to his father. He was tired of knuckling under, this time he was going to stand his ground, no matter what his father said.

"Son, you already know how I feel about it, you already know what your mother would have said if she were still alive…"  
James felt his heart sink into his stomach again, his mother had always been against him going into the military, she had nearly lost a husband once…she didn't want to lose her only son.

"Dad…"

Gavin shook his head, he closed his eyes mournfully.  
"I'm sorry, son. I can't do this anymore." He stood up slowly.  
Their eyes met. James studied his father's face. There was no patronizing look, no pleading frown, no irritated grimace...no, it was something else entirely...  
_Resignation._  
"Do what you want, James, but I won't be part of it anymore."  
And without another word, he left.

"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK" James felt life rush into his limbs once again. His eyes snapped open and his body tensed in a convulsive spasm.  
"Woah woah woah!" someone nearby shouted, James didn't care, he was out of the bed in a flash, his bare fleet slapping against laminate floors as painful lances shot through his arms. The pain caused him to pause, his mind orienting to this new reality that he had been dropped into.  
Just a second ago, he had been on Eden Prime, fighting the Geth, killed quite a few of them actually, but had gotten hit.  
Now he was in a hospital, with tubes stuck in his arm and the stink of anti-septic death flowing through his nostrils, as well the smell of the clear plastic breathing mask over his mouth and nose.  
In front of him, a frightened looking young woman, likely a nurse, flanked by two brutish looking orderlies were standing near the open doorway in aggressive postures. One of them had an omni-tool ready, with what looked like a sedative capsule loaded into the receiving port.

James let his muscles relax.  
"Sorry." He mumbled…and to his surprise, his voice was different and it _hurt_.  
His lungs spasmed and he felt himself choke on something nasty, like phlegm but thicker…harder to get rid of. He gave a hacking cough and looked down in horrow to see black-red flecks of blood splattered against his mask…and more was on the way.

He coughed and choked, every movement of his lungs sending waves of aching pain into his brain and more bloody phlegm into his mask.  
The nurse was shouting something to the orderlies, though James couldn't hear it, the hallway outside the room suddenly became a buzz of activity as doctors and nurses alike rushed into his room.

The mask had become streaked with the bloody mess and before the doctors could reach him, he pulled it off in a desperate attempt to get more air.

That was a mistake.  
James gasped even harder, it was like being on top of a high mountain, or losing suit environment to a leak in the void, but much more intense. His limbs started to tingle and weaken as he went down to his knees. The arms of the orderlies wrapped around him and pulled him up.

"Get his mask back on, goddamn it!" he heard someone shout, though it sounded like an echo, more than a voice.  
He felt himself slipping again, losing consciousness. The voices faded, and everything dipped into blackness again.

* * *

Kari wasn't quite sure what to do, it was her first time on the Citadel. She had already been by the Alliance's local military offices two days ago to give her report on Eden Prime. It had been…hard reliving some of the memories. But the Alliance had been very understanding. They may have been a bit suspicious about the timetable of her arrival, nly three weeks before the attack, but they had told her that they weren't going to pursue the matter further.  
She also learned of the Ellis's fate. They had remained at their house after she left, and managed to take out an entire platoon of Geth troopers before the Geth decided to bring in a Colossus. Kari had taken some slight comfort in the fact that they had died together. Her father would have said they died well, but she hadn't told her parents about the Ellis's. She had called them to let them know she was okay, and that she had almost finished with her Pilgrimage, though she had neglected to mention what she was bringing back with her.

Her parents were happy that she was okay, and were delighted to hear of her success, her mother even tried to get her to tell what she was planning to bring back to the fleet. Kari had changed the subject.  
She knew what was expected of her, Quarians were supposed to be computer geniuses, tech specialists or machinists, not biologists. It was a bit of a stigma for a pilgrim to bring back something that wasn't mechanical in nature, though not discouraged. Everyone knew how important the liveship's hydroponic farms were to the survival of the fleet. Yet, the people that tended them usually were labeled social pariahs by the rest of the fleet

_"Give me a piece of scrap metal, a circuit board, and some eezo and I'll have it making precision jumps"_  
One of her instructors had said….It was something that Kari couldn't do. It just never felt right. Working with tech always felt like something she had to do, never something she wanted to do.  
But on the flotilla it was "Fleet first, family second, self last." And so she had always done what was expected of her, but she craved so much more.

Kari's stomach rumbled. "Speaking of cravings…" she murmured to herself. She had spent all this time wandering around the Presidium aimlessly, lost in her thoughts and had forgotten to eat again. She reached down in her pocket to grab another packet of nutrient paste, the kind of sweet though slightly bland stuff that the Quarians gave their pilgrams.  
She went to put the cap of the paste into her suits induction port, but paused.  
Kari felt her tummy rumble again, this time for something very in particular, something that she had first tasted at the Ellis's.

Kari looked around the Presidium's restaurants for a moment, most of them were store fronts built into the walls with dining areas outside overlooking the large lake. It didn't take long until she saw what she was looking for.  
"Excuse me." She said, walking up to the counter gingerly. The old Turian behind the counter raised an eyebrow slightly,  
his look of mild surprised suggested that not many Quarians ventured up to the Presidium.

"What can I getca?" he inflected pleasantly enough.  
"Do you have any dextro-amino ice cream?" she asked hesitantly but hopefully.  
The Turian laughed heartily, "I don't get much call for that…most other races don't like human cuisine."  
Kari's head drooped. She had really wanted some.  
"But that doesn't mean I don't have it…" he said with a grin. Kari looked up at him eagerly.  
"Do you have butter pecan?" she asked excitedly.  
The Turian grinned, "You're a strange one aren't you….but yes. I do. I'll be right back."  
_"Extra large please!"_she called after him.

A short time later, the Turian returned, with a large cylinder of pale yellow frozen treats. He measured out the size into a bowl and gave it to her along with a straw.  
"You'll probably be needing this." He chuckled. Kari smiled, taking the ice cream and giving him her credit chit.  
"Thank you so much." She beamed, placing the straw into the suit's induction port and sucking softly.  
Mr Ellis had told her that the human variety usually had the nuts in a heterogeneous mixture. Unlike the Dextro variety in which imitation flavoring was injected into the solution, but that didn't make it any less tasty.  
"Here you go," the Turian handed her the chit back. "Have a pleasant stay on the Citadel."  
Kari gave a hearty nod of appreciation. "I will! Thank you."

She went to find a nice quiet place to sit down and enjoy her treat. She found a nice shady spot away from the rest of the crowd, on the edge of one of the gardens that overlooked the lake. She sat down on the bench, the sounds of the fountains and the now soft murmur of voices were comforting to her. The view was amazing, so idyllic and peaceful, calm.

She could easily get lost in a place like this. It was like being home, and on Eden Prime at the same time. It made her realize how much she missed both places. The feeling of belonging and of closeness that she got from the Ellis's and the sense of pride and humility she felt from her parents. They all mixed together into this one perfect moment, like the light of the Rannoch's sun meeting the fingers of the violet night.

It made her ache for home, and it made her ache for a homeworld.  
To see the sunset on Rannoch with her own eyes… it was what she wanted more than anything.

"Excuse me, Miss Vereah?"  
Kari's turned in her seat to face the origin of the voice. It was the old soldier that Kari had spoken to her earlier. Commander Aben-something, she couldn't remember.  
"Yes? How can I help you, Commander" she offered cordially.  
Kari couldn't quiet place it, but it seemed that the human wasn't quite all there, he looked distant…distracted, his body language seemed both anxious and mournful. It didn't bode well for Kari.

"Lt Irving is awake. He asked for you."  
Kari's eyes widened a bit.  
"Me? W-what for?"  
Karl shook his head.  
"Didn't say. He's waiting for you now."

A dozen possibilities flashed through Kari's brain, all of them bad.  
"O-okay." She stuttered, standing to her feet clumsily. She felt small again, like a child being taken before her father for punishment.  
She walked on past the Commander, who fell in behind her just on her right flank. Kari's head drooped as she walked.  
_Did I do something wrong?  
_

* * *

James stared out of his room's window. His room was spacious, decorated and had the feeling of comfortable warmth one usually associated with civilian living. James hated it.  
With a passion he hated the room, everything about it. The warm sunlight, the soft edges, the blue-green vista of the Presidium, it was a gilded cage. A reminder of his failure, as was every single breath he took.  
He should have seen it coming. He should have been more aware. He should have known that there would be a fucking hunter lurking around somewhere.  
_How could you have known? No one's seen the Geth in three-hundred years._ A part of his mind replied.  
"Shut up." He growled at himself, his voice was hoarse and deep, like a thread that had been stretched to its limit and then released.  
"Shut the fuck up." He wheezed to himself, with more venom this time.  
He was alone in the room, and the sound-resistant walls ensured that his words wouldn't go past the door. It was not like he cared.

Bishop had already been by to tell him the news. The Halcyon was gone, scrapped by the Alliance. It had been so badly damaged in the fight, that command had decided that the old bird wasn't worth the trouble to fix. So they towed her out to God-knows-where to let her rot.

But that hadn't even been the worst of it. As much as James had loved the Halcyon, the revelation she was gone was nothing compared to what came next.

_"Captain Hall has decided that you are to be discharged."_  
"What?" he yelled, snapping upwards in bed not caring that it was hell on his lungs and throat to do so.  
"They can't discharge- huuukkkk." He laid back down, taking heavy wheezing breaths from the oxygen mask he was now forced to wear.  
"I'm sorry, James…I really am. Believe me, I fought it as hard as I could."  
James shook his head, tears starting to well up in his eyes, he fought them back.  
"No. No…I can fight… I'll-"  
Karl shook his head, "It's not just that. When they learned what happened down there…there was nothing I could do. Captain Hall wanted to Court-Marshall you."  
James eyes unfocused, his mind not believing what his ears were telling him  
"Because of your injuries…they decided to let you go quietly. Honourable discharge, full benefits and pension."  
James stared at Bishop blankly.  
There was a long pause, Karl's face was a picture of barely masked pain and sympathy.  
"I know how much N7 meant to you, son, I wish I could do more for you…"

James didn't respond.  
Bishop hesitated for a long moment before turning to go.  
"If there's ever anything you need…"

_"Bring the Quarian."_

Karl turned. James still had that blank look on his face, but his eyes were tracking Bishop.  
"I need to speak with her."  
Karl didn't quite understand what it would accomplish, but he nodded anyway.  
"Okay…" he said gently. "I'll get her."

James didn't really know why he had said that. Why he had asked for her. Was it that his mind wanted an outlet for his rage? That he wanted to blame her for his current predicament? Her people had made the Geth, her people had unleashed them on the galaxy. It was their fault that he was laying here in this bed with less than a lung left and two giant craters in his back. It was her fault that he was even still alive.

_I want to die._  
He thought. It was a simple statement, one not born of pain and agony, but the simple realization that he had failed in one duty that he had been born for: to die protecting others.  
_I want to die._ He repeated in his mind._I want to die. I want to die. I want the clean fucking death that should have been mine._  
His eyes stung again as he fought back tears again.  
_No, I won't just linger like this. A cripple, a freak…this can't be how it ends_.

James furrowed his brow, he started to look around the room, for a scapel or something sharp, something he could jab into his chest or open his veins with, anything that would give him release from this torment.  
There was nothing. He punched the wall with a roar of rage as he flopped back down in his bed, sobbing softly.  
"Goddamn it…"

After a few moments of tearful sobs, he quieted himself. He stared up at the sterile white ceiling.  
It wasn't right, he had tried so hard to be a good soldier, not only one that did his duty, but strived to be the best he could be. It was the first time in his life he had such purpose; he wanted to make up for the mediocre childhood and teenage years.  
James sighed as the realization sunk in.  
It had all been for nothing. The long hours of biotic training, the countless times on the rifle range the thick tech manuals.  
All of it, gone in the blink of an eye.  
He had been tossed aside, thrown away, scrapped.  
James laid his head back on the pillow, turning his head towards the window again.  
An Alliance dreadnought was passing by, the Capetown, he figured by the configuration.

Just another piece now useless knowledge.

_"James…"_  
James turned his head slowly to see that Bishop and the Quarian were standing at the door.  
Bishop was standing just outside the doorway, he nodded to the girl to go in.  
The young Quarian folded her hands in front of her waist and picked at her fingers nervously as she looked at the Commander, but did as she was bade.  
Bishop gave a slight nod to James, and quietly slipped out, closing the door behind him, leaving only him and the Quarian girl in the room.

"You're the one that saved me." James stated, his voice distant and emotionless.  
The Quarian girl's head drooped, the dim lights of her eyes staring down at her feet.  
"Y-Yes…it was me." she stuttered apprehensively.

_"Why?"_

The question was a simple one, delivered in a tone that was curious, desperate and cold all at the same time. A paradox of inflections, that put Kari even more on edge. She fiddled with her fingers a bit more…they felt itchy.

"B-because….I-I-I…you-…" she couldn't find the words to say, she looked up into the man's face. He had purple eyes…deep, passionate violet eyes. There were dark circles around them, and a heavy brow that cast shadows across them. It was like looking into the eyes of another Quarian: deep inky darkness, with twin pools of dim light.  
Eyes that were filled with pain and misery…

"Why didn't you let me die?"  
He asked again, this time more desperately.

Kari wanted to slip away, disappear, just vanish. She wanted to be invisible again, like she had been her whole life. She felt like she was on a stage with the whole galaxy as the audience, waiting for her answer.

"Y-you…saved us…" was all she could manage.  
The human didn't seem satisfied by that answer. He sat up and set his feet on the floor.

"You should have left me there. I was supposed to die. Why did you save me?"

The human stood up shakily to his feet. He had nothing but a hospital robe on that buttoned in the front and the oxygen mask he was wearing.  
She could see his part of his bare chest, and the two blacked bloody circles of flesh between his pectorials that were the exit wounds.  
She turned her head away, the sight was making her nauseous.

"Look at me!" he cried out, closing the distance between them, pulling the top of his robe apart, revealing the full extent of the damage. Kari shrunk before him, afraid he would strike her, but she obeyed. She instantly wished he hadn't. His chest was a mess of stitches, cuts, deep bruises and burns. She almost threw up.

"I-I-I'm sorry… I w-was trying t-to…" Kari felt her eyes begin to sting as tears streamed down her face, pooling at the deepest part of the visor's curveatour. Everything he was feeling, she felt as well. Every brutal memory, every friend she had lost, it all came back to her in a crashing wave of emotions. She had tried to suppress it, she had tried to ignore it, but there it was.

James let go of his robes. The Quarian before him was bawling like a baby, ragged sobs and moans of misery cutting the anti-septic silence of the room. It was clear to him that it was more than just him yelling at her that had caused this.

James realized that he wasn't the only one that had lost a piece of himself on Eden Prime.

Silently, he wrapped his arms around the girl and hugged her. Her arms slipped around his back and she rested her head against his shoulder and she sobbed even harder.

James bowed his head over hers and closed his eyes tightly, the gentle hissing of his respirator and the soft whimpering of the girl were the only sounds in the room.

"Thank you…" he whispered.  
_For saving me…_


	5. Chapter 5: Afterlife

**Chapter 5: Afterlife**

James got to spend most of the next week with his comrades. They had some time between now and their next posting to kill on the Citadel. Keira and Thomas both spent most of their free time with James, recalling war stories, funny moments during their careers and generally trying to cheer James up. It had worked, to an extent. James felt a lot better than he had since the start of the whole ordeal, and was starting to forget about his problems.  
Or at least bury them.

James knew it couldn't last, and every time the two left, his mind inevitably wandered back to the uncertainty of his future. The doctors had told James that with the proper therapy, he could be a normally functioning member of society again, but he would have to wear the respirator or be on some kind of oxygen for the rest of his days.

To be honest, at this particular point, James didn't care. He had been stripped of everything he held dear. What did it matter that he would have to be on oxygen for the rest of his life, it was just the cherry on top of the shit sundae he had been handed.

But he just swallowed it with the rest. He was out of the Corps, but the Corps would never be out of him.  
Yet, one thing that happened surprised him. The Quarian girl, Kari, she had stayed by his side ever since the day she had first come to see him.

It was, usual to say the least. Most of the time she just kept quiet surfing the extranet on her omni-tool or watching vids on a datapad. They had exchanged few words since those first emotionally charged moments. The nurses had asked her if she needed a place to stay for the night, but she had quietly refused to leave, instead just sleeping on a nearby vacant hospital bed or propping herself between two chairs if the bed was taken by a patient.

She would occasionally leave to go get something to eat, or do suit maintenance, but other than that she had been there the whole time.

James looked over at her curiously, she was sitting in one of the room's chairs with her feet propped up in the seat of another, in a slightly reclined position like one sitting up in a bed. At this particular moment she seemed to be watching something funny on the datapad. The dim ovals of her eyes were drawn up into a upwards slant, as one's eyes would be when smiling or laughing. James couldn't hear anything, but he figured that her suit probably had a auditory system that could shut out any outgoing noise or any incoming sound. Well, other than the vid's audio track.

James decided to try his luck.  
"Whatca watching?" the girl looked up from her screen in surprise, nearly falling out of her chair at the sudden interruption. She scrambled to correct herself and turn on her voice filter.  
"Err-umm..n-nothing important. J-just a movie…" she mumbled timidly.  
James found her nervousness strangely endearing.  
"Oh? What about?" he asked, giving her a comforting smile.

"Its a comedy…about a Turian and a human tracking a rogue law enforcement agent."  
Her eyes darted away for a moment, looking off towards the ground.  
"I don't bite you know…" James noted, observing her body language, still seeing a trace of lingering fear in her movements.  
"Oh…no- I didn't- I just-…" Kari tired to explain, words failing her. She hadn't expected him to talk to her. Not now, she had thought of the things she would say, how she would respond, but it all seemed to have just flown from her.

"I'm sorry." She finally admitted.  
James shook his head. "Don't be, there's nothing to be sorry about."  
Kari looked up, meeting those shadowy violet eyes again. They were softer than they had been the last time they had spoke, there was still pain there, but it was dulled, like a rusty razor in a mound of dirt.  
"But-…."

James held up a bruised hand to silence her.  
"I know what I said, and I'm sorry. I had no reason to yell at you like that."  
It was James's turn to look away in shame.  
"I was…feeling rather raw."  
Kari could see that her words were causing him to relive those awful moments again. She didn't want that, more than anything else in the world right now she wanted to make the man who had saved them happy. And she was failing at it…Kari panicked.  
"No, no! I didn't mean to-"  
James eyes met hers again, he gave a weary smile.  
"It's okay. I'm fine."

James wasn't fine, not entirely. He suspected that he might never be entirely 'fine' after all that had happened, but he was eager to change the subject, perhaps to things a little less morose.

"Tell me more about that vid you were watching."  
Kari blinked a few times, understanding hitting her like a rock to the visor.  
I don't want to talk about it anymore.

"Oh, um, uh, well I-I hadn't quiet finished it yet…it had just started really, w-when…ahem…"  
Kari felt her cheeks go red.  
"D-did you want to watch with me?"

James smiled.  
"I'd like that."

The Halcyon groaned as it pulled into dock. The ship's drive core fluttered and whined pitifully as Lt Kendon brought her into the docking cradle. It didn't seem right, what they were doing, Kendon mused as he set the ship to lockdown mode, the cankerous wailing of the ship's drive core quieting as all systems shut down.  
The old bird still had some fight in her, she had managed to take down three Geth frigates and a cruiser with the help of the Normandy. Not to mention the fact that she had limped all the way back to the Citadel on her own power.

With a little tender love, and a lot of patience, the Alliance could have her combat effective in a month.  
Unfortunately, the Halcyon was an older ship, and the Alliance had little in the way of sympathy for things that had used up their usefulness, not when they could build a brand new ship for just a little bit more.

Nope, it was to the scrap yards with the Halcyon. She would be stripped of everything that wasn't nailed down and then sold to a junker to melt down to make coffee-makers or cup-holders or something equally stupid.

But, then again it wasn't like they ever asked Kendon for his advice, and maybe it was just because he was feeling sentimental. The Halcyon had been his girl ever since he left the academy, but it just didn't feel like the Alliance was doing her any service.

Kendon sighed as he collected his gear and headed for the ship's airlock. It had to end one day. He would be transferred, a new ship and a new crew to fall in love with. It was the norm in the life of a soldier, of a pilot but he knew that nothing would ever quite like his Halcyon days.

James and Kari had spent the whole rest of the day talking. It had been a little awkward at first, most of their conversation had been about movies they had both seen, works of literature and a smattering of tech talk, but he had finally gotten her to open up a bit about her people. She told had told him about the Migrant fleet, their culture, and the traditions of her people, why they wore suits, their pilgrimage and their history with the Geth.

Some of it James already knew, he had once studied to be a historian during his college days, a career choice that he had been prodded into by his parents, a compromise of sorts. He knew some about the Quarians but not a whole lot, but Kari had easily remedied that. It was interesting; her demure nature seemed to evaporate when she talked about the Migrant fleet.  
James could relate to that, he had been the same way about the Alliance Marines once, bending anyone's ear that would listen.  
He could tell it was a source of great pride to her, though she had deftly dodged any conversations topics about herself. She didn't seem to like talking about what she liked, or did, or things about her family.

Eventually, James had let the matter drop and they had both gone to sleep with the advent of nightfall on the Presidium arm.

The next morning had been a rather bright one. James's world felt less overcast than it had for the last week.  
His wounds were starting to heal, the deep purple of his bruises were starting to take on a yellow-green tone and it only hurt a little when he breathed.

He had awoken rather early in the morning, before dawn on his arm of the Citadel. The shadow of the other arms had been blocking out the sunlight, plunging the Presidium into "night."

James watched the sun come out from behind the arm, only occasionally looking down at a tech manual he skimmed off the extranet about starship drive-cores.  
_Old habits die hard._He thought.

Kari was still asleep when the doctor came by to check on him. The door had been open, James had left it that way during the night so that he could open the window and let a breeze roll through.

The doctor was a rather odd looking slightly scarred Salarian with warm orange skin. James set down his datapad to give the doctor his full attention as he checked James's vitals, his wounds and even applied a fresh set of bandages. A task usually let to the orderlies or the nurses. James noticed that he was missing one of the claw like appendages on his head common to most Salarians and his disposition was cheerier than most.

The Salarian nodded in satisfaction  
"I'm happy to tell you that you are healing quiet well-yes-yes. Even without slug therapy. Mmm-are you sure you haven't changed your mind?"  
The doctor rattled off at a mile a minute, with a rather unsettling but friendly looking smile on his features. He had seen the doctor once before, he had offered to treat him with a type of slug native of Sur'Kesh the Salarian homeworld. Evidentally, they had been prized for the medicinal qualities, but James had gotten a look at them, and they looked like slimy mini-thresher maws.

"Keep it down, please" James pleaded under his breath, nodding to the sleeping Quarian on the bed.  
The Salarian doctor looked over at Kari and nodded, reducing his voice in tone but not volume.

"Ah yes,-so sorry-sure you don't want slugs? Debrides wounds. Halves healing time-only mildly toxic-small number of them, mild hallucinations-nothing to worry about- unless…arachnophobic."

James frowned, he looked over the doctor's shoulder to see if Kari had been woken up. She still seemed to be fast asleep.  
"Could you lower your voice a bit…"

The Salarian nodded, still speaking in an unusual baritone for his species "Am-lower voice register-decreases likelihood of arousal-females more sensitive to higher chords-evolutionary response-hear child's cries better…-slugs?"

James looked up at the Salarian with a dumbfounded look on his face. Finally his brain caught up to his ears.  
"No I don't want slugs crawling all over my- wait…spiders?"

The doctor nodded enthusiastically. "Common hallucinogenic response to slug toxin- very mild."

James shook his head slowly for emphasis "Nooooo…thank you. I'm good."  
The Salarian looked disappointed but it didn't seem to faze him for long.  
"Very well-change your mind let me know."

The doctor gave him a smile and a slight bow before leaving the room. As the door shut behind him Kari began to stir.  
"Nnnnuuhhh w-what?" she groaned, groggily turning her head towards the window. The light from the Serpent Nebula's star hit her right in the face as it shined through the hospital room's window.

Kari moaned in frustration and pulled the covers over her visor.  
"Five more minutes…"  
James chuckled, picking his datapad back up. "You'll get no argument from me."  
Kari jumped, sitting straight up in bed and looking over at James with a surprised look on her face.  
"A-ah!"  
James looked up from the pad, an amused smirk on his face, "Did I scare you?"  
Kari seemed to have recovered, the dim lights of her eyes blinked and shook her head, still sitting up in the bed.  
"N-no. I just thought for a moment…"  
"You were back on the fleet?"  
He said, finishing her sentence for her.  
Kari looked up at him with a rather curious look. It made him grin.  
"What?" she asked, as if she had missed some vital piece of humour or inside joke that only James was privy to.

James shook his head and chuckled, "Nothin'.  
Kari looked bemused, she tilted her head sideways as she swung her feet onto the floor.  
"Had a pretty strict father, did you?"  
Kari blinked.  
Had she been talking in her sleep again?

"How did you-…" Kari began, but the look in James's eye seemed to have a powerful impact on her ability to speak.  
They had spoken yesterday a great deal, but she had intentionally avoided the topics of family, herself and pretty much everything else personal. She was still dealing with the deaths of her friends the Ellis's, they were only people she had really ever opened up to. But with James... it was like he already knew her.

James chuckled; it was a deep gravelly bass that sent shivers down her spine. "I was a spacer kid too. Spent most of my life on military ships, and every morning my father would come into my room and wake me to the tune of Reveille."

James looked down at his datapad again.  
"Every day, for fifteen years…." He continued, his voice distant and somber, "until…well until he didn't even have to play the song anymore." James looked up and nodded to the door.  
"He would just open the door, and I'd pop up." James smiled pensively at Kari.

Kari choked a bit, she wasn't sure if she should say anything.  
Was it a betrayal of her parents to talk about the aspects of them that had caused her pain?  
Should she be sharing such information with someone she barely knew, not to mention of a different species.  
"My father…" she began, bowing her head slightly.  
James saw the look in her eyes, as they looked down at her feet. They were his only point of reference for reading her emotions. Body language said a lot, but it only said so much. It was her eyes that told him what to say next.

"It's okay. I understand." He said, giving her a comforting smile.  
Kari looked up, her eyes showing her appreciation.  
"Thank you. I just-…"  
"I know."

A long moment passed between them before James spoke again.  
"Hey, can you help me out with something?"  
Kari looked up at him curiously, she had been wondering what to say next.  
"What?"

James pushed the covers off him and pulled his robe tightly around his midsection. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and planted them on the floor.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, rising to her feet and stepping towards him cautiously.

James grinned impishly. "I'm going for a walk."

"But the doctors said-" Kari began, recalling that the physicians had told James that he shouldn't leave his bed for anything other than hygiene for at least another week.

"Screw em. I'm going for a walk and there's not a damned thing they can do about it." James sputtered, pressing his weight to his feet, his legs wavered slightly.  
Kari put her hand on his arm, steadying him. Her three fingered hand felt strange pressed against his bicep, but it wasn't an unpleasant sensation. Indeed, compared to all the metal instruments, glass syringes and plastic tubing that had been forced upon his skin over the last few days, the touch of another person felt strangely intoxicating.  
Even if it there was an envirosuit between them.

With Kari's help, James walked across the room, over to the closet where the assorted assisted living supplies were kept. It only took him a few moments of rifling to find what he wanted, a plain metal unadorned walking cane that was just right for his height.

"That's good." He said, testing his weight against it, walking a few steps around the room to be sure of the balance.  
Every step sent dull shots of pain through his chest, and crossing the room felt like running uphill in full pack, but he kept pushing himself.

"Let's go." James said at last heading for the door.  
Kari had been watching him limp around the room, her arm steady on his shoulder and around the inside of his elbow. It was a strain for him, even just this short distance. She knew that he would hurt himself if he continued much longer.

"No." She tugged at his arm. "You need to rest. Let's get you back to bed."  
James shook his head, pulling forward towards the door. "I've been in that damned bed for a week. I've had enough rest. I need some fresh air."

Kari shook her head. "We are on a space-station. The air in here is just as good as outside. You need to sit down before you hurt yourself."  
James turned to the Quarian, their faces only inches apart…there was a smirk on his lips.  
"Are you trying to get smart with me, Miss Vereah?"  
Kari blinked, for a moment, their eyes locked…she felt her cheeks go red.  
"E-er? No? What does that mean? I didn't- I wasn't trying to be-"

James chuckled and patted the hand on his bicep with his free one.  
"Don't worry about it. Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. Get me a wheelchair, and I'll sit down in that."

Kari looked down at his hand resting on hers for a moment, before looking back up into his deep amethyst eyes.  
"Okay…" she said quietly.  
"Deal."

* * *

It was dark. The iron sky reaching down casting long shadows across the forest. Tree, sapped of their colour, stood like ominous stone watchers, staying an eternal vigil over the bleak landscape.

The ground was soft, like snow or sand but it reflected the slated sky, churning and shifting. Whispers like the echoes fingered their way through the trees, distorting the air, making the trees tremble and shake.

Oily shadows, moved through the sea of grey mist, their forms swimming and swirling, phantoms of those who had cast them.

James stood in the center of the forest, under the bare branches of the trees, staring out across the landscape.  
Whispers clawed at the back of his mind, voices from the edges of the forest…familiar ones.  
_"…won't be a part of this…"_

"…can't go, what will I do if you-…"

"…your mother wouldn't approve of this…"

"…leave me, I'm not going to-…"

James cringed, he put his hands over his ears, trying to shut them out. It didn't word, they only seemed to push their way into his consciousness faster.

_"…orders. Can't risk the mission…"_

"…you've been discharged…"

"…trying to help…"

The shadows closed in around him, staring at him, watching him with silent judgement. James feel to his hands and knees, the grey-snowy ground giving way, burying his hands.  
_"Go away! Leave me alone!"_

Silence.  
The shadows had gone, evaporated into the mist, leaving him alone with the seething reflection of the sky.

James sobbed quietly. Alone, in the darkness of the forest. He felt leeched, empty, drained. There was no one left to condemn him now…there was no one left at all.

The deep abyss of silence stared into James, but he didn't look away.

The ground looked so soft, and inviting. It felt like marshmellow fluff between his fingers. He felt it calling to him, pulling him closer…asking him to sink his entire form into its gentle embrace, promising nothingness in return. The peace of sleep, eternal and unburdened.

James felt himself sink, his limbs were so tired, so weary of bearing their burden. All he had to do was release them from their charge, and he would dip himself into the dreamless void.

Yet, even as he was about to give in, something cold and wet touched his ear. A breath of warm air exhaled across his face and the soft touch of black fur pressed against his cheek. James looked up.

_"Shadow?"_

_"How can it be? You died."_

The form of his childhood border collie looked at him curiously with those deep brown soulful eyes of his. It was an accusation, a question and an offer all in that single look.  
James looked away in shame, pushing his body away from the churning reflection of the sky.  
Shadow barked at him, bowing down before him in a playful challenge before romping off into the mist of the forest.

James stood to his feet, he called after him.  
_"Shadow! Wait! Come back! Don't leave me alone!"_  
The bubbling ground shifted lazily under his feet as James chased after Shadow, draining his energy with each step.  
James pressed on, out of desperation, out of fear. He didn't want to be alone again…and he wanted to hold his old friend in his arms one more time.

_"Come back!"_  
James cried out, reaching for the fading form, the playful barks becoming a wispy echo on the wind.

James's feet failed, and the ground seemed to reach up and take him…but it wasn't going to take him. James pushed, and pulled and strained.

**It wasn't going to take him!**

With a horrible snap, like the breaking of a bone, he pulled free, stumbling free of the forest and into a new scene.

James's breath caught in his throat.  
He was home. It was Morecambe Bay, the beach he had gone to when he was a boy, when his parents would bring him home on shore leave. It was winter, and the sandy soil was covered in white. Tender snowflakes fell from a dim alabaster sky, with frosty fingers reaching out across the ocean waves.

The slight form of Shadow's black fur, romping through the snow and the waves sent a smile across James's face. The canine came up to him, a stupid looking grin on his face, caked with wet sand and snow, looking for his master's approval.  
James gave it, bending down on one knee, he wrapped his arms around the filthy mutt and tussled his ears. The dog gave him a lick of appreciation before pulling off to chase after a few ocean birds.

James chuckled. He would never catch them…he never did, but watching him chase them again…James felt a tear roll unbidden down his cheek.

_"This is a dream. It won't last."_His mind whispered mournfully.

_"Nothing does…"_

James looked over to where Shadow had been playing. He was standing over something small and blue, staring at it curiously.  
James walked towards him.  
The scene changed again.

The ocean had stilled, the lapping of the waves had gone quiet, and the sky had grown darker.  
They were on a flat plain, endless in all directions. The ground was hard, cold, white… ice.  
But James's step didn't falter as he approached Shadow and the blue object on the ground.  
As he drew closer, he could see that it was a bird, a Kingfisher. It had a brilliant plumage of azure, violet and navy on its back, and its breast was the colour of a sunset with deep orange and crimson feathers.

James looked at it curiously, it seemed oddly familiar to him, like he had seen this bird somewhere before…  
Shadow stared at it pensively, as if he was waiting for something. James couldn't quiet understand why he hadn't attacked it, or why the bird simply hadn't flow off.

The bird turned its head to face him, it looked up at him with twin pools of glowing dim light, James could see something in its gaze: pain.

The bird turned to face him, and it all became clear.  
The kingfisher's right wing had been broken, mangled and deformed; it looked as if it had been torn by a predator or perhaps a product of birth. It lay outstretched across the ice like a disfigured hand, trying to hide something from his gaze. The little bird looked up at him piteously, but held its ground, shifting itself between him and the object it wished to remain hidden

A gust of wind pushed across the plains of ice, throwing the little bird forward and off balance, revealing what it had been trying to hide.  
It was a small nest, made of pebbles and twigs with a clutch of small azure eggs inside. The little bird chirped wretchedly and threw itself towards its eggs, but James could see that it was far too late.

The eggs were broken already, they looked like they had been for some time. Their soft blue shells were splattered with blood and white downy feathers that fluttered away with the wind.  
The bird cried out as they went, the last vestiges of her loss scattered to the sky.

James watched the bird sadly, he wanted to reach out and help it, pull it up into his arms and tell it, it was going to be okay.

Shadow looked up at him.  
But it wasn't Shadow that he saw. The sweet doleful eyes of his border collie had been replaced by glowing red ones that burned like the fire of hell itself. Wires and tubes like serpents snaked out across the canine's lean form, long shaggy black fur deep as night. Yellow teeth like fangs and claws sharp as daggers.

The creature that had been Shadow stared at him…as the sky turned blood red and a tone from space hushed all noise but its own.

The creature didn't flinch. It stared up at James, its eyes filled with a single purpose.

His eyes opened.

James sat up in bed. The smell of anti-septic filled his nostrils once again as the taste of the night's air sat heavy on his tongue.

He was back in his room, the hospital room. It had been a dream. It all had been a dream…  
_Just a dream._  
James put his face in his hands, wiping away the sleep and fear from his body.  
_It had been so vivid and felt so real..._

Morning had come again on the Presidium. The denizens of the Citadel had already begun to crowd the pedways and cafes that James could see from his window.

"Morning!" said a rather cheery voice to his left.  
Kari was already up, and had evidentally already been down to the cafeteria for she was bearing a tray of rather delicious looking array of breakfast items that included bacon, eggs, scones and Devonshire cream.  
James looked down at the tray in her hands with both shock and surprise. Kari noticed the look and started to fidget a bit.  
"I'm sorry if I didn't get it right. I did some reading, about human culture and cuisine…I-I hope you don't mind..."

James blinked several times quickly.  
"Okay? It's bloody brilliant, it is!" he croaked, his voice a still a touch on the sore side. He cleared his throat.  
"Thank you…"

Kari blushed, and set the tray before him.

"I talked to the doctor, and they said that we used the wheeled-chair, that I could take you out on the Presidium for awhile…i-if you wanted to…"

James almost choked on his scone. The nurses had stopped him for leaving the hospital yesterday, saying he was in too "delicate a condition" to leave the premises. They had made him return to his room and then taken the wheel chair away from good measure, to ensure he wouldn't try to sneak out.

"How did you manage that?" he coughed, a bit of cream caught in his throat.

"I talked to the singing doctor. He said it was okay, as long as I brought you back at the first sign of trouble."

James tilted his head curiously. "Singing doctor?"

Kari nodded enthusiastically. "You know, the nice Salarian one that comes in to check on you, talks fast."

James nodded, remembering his encounters with the strange little man. "Oh yeah…that one..."  
He grinned. "Well…I'd like that."  
Kari beamed from behind her visor. "Oh-good! I'll go get then" she smiled, getting up from her seat to go fetch the chair from the front desk.

James continued to eat after she left the room, though his mind wandered back to the dream… there was one piece of it that he couldn't seem to get out of his head: the image of the little bird with the broken wing. The look it its eyes had been so familiar, so haunting. His mind was drenched with the image.

The swish of an opening door interrupted his thoughts.  
James looked with a smile over to see Kari enter the room with her prize.  
Wrested from the hands of his diabolical nursely jailors, the key to his freedom: a wheelchair. She beamed triumphantly at him, pushing it up to the side of his bed.

"Ready to go?" she asked, noting the now empty tray of food she had brought in."

James grinned.

"Ready when you are, Miss Vereah." He replied sweetly.

Kari blushed, she took the tray and set it aside on the other hospital bed and then offered her arm to help steady him as he swung his legs from the bed.

James sat down heavily into the chair, sending a dull spike of pain up his spine, but he didn't care. He was finally going to be able to get out of that damned bed for awhile.

Kari put her hands on either side of the back of the chair and wheeled it around towards the door, but before she had reached the door, James held up a hand to stop her.

Kari looked down curiously at him, the human turned around in his seat to meet eyes with hers.  
"Why are you being so nice to me?" he asked her in an even tone. It was a question that had been on his mind for awhile now, he had been…afraid to ask.  
Kari's eyes darted away nervously, she retracted her left hand to scratch her right arm apprehensively.  
"Erm-well…uh…- That is…-" she began, bungling her words into a mess of syablles that didn't make any sense. She looked down and away towards the floor, as if hoping that if she couldn't see him, then he couldn't see her.

Then something strange happened, she felt a hand on the side of her helmet, turning her head back towards James. She met those deep violet eyes again, they were warm, inviting… seeming to whisper to her, telling her okay to be herself with him.

"I…made a promise to someone on Eden Prime…" she spoke at last, her words trembling almost as much as her.  
"That I would repay kindness…by showing kindness to another…."

James let his hand fall from Kari's visor, down her arm to her hand, which he grasped softly.  
"Well…thank you…for everything…."

Kari took his hand and wrapped her fingers around his palm. Her slight hand was like child's compared to his. She could even feel the warmth of his skin through her suit.

She smiled sadly and gave a soft giggle.

_I kept my word, Mrs Ellis._


	6. Chapter 6: Revenant

**Chapter 6: Revenant**

Three weeks. It had only been three weeks since James had been brought in to Heurta Memorial hospital and he was already back on his feet. Kari was amazed. He had pushed himself, everyday since he first got out of the bed to do a little more than the day before. He was far from healed, but he could walk the length of the gardens outside the hospital with Kari, and they made it a little further each day.

Tullius and Aesha had joined them as well, the Turian had been sporting a rather fashionable looking cane that he strolled around with. It was for show mostly, onhe seemed to be enjoying all the fussing over him that Aesha did, but he often let James borrow the cane on their walks.

"Say, do you think there are fish in there?" he said, pointing the cane to the lake that was the central feature of the Presidium.  
The Turian licked his lips, "Boy, what I wouldn't give for a nice freshly caught Presidium fish. Slow cooked over a real fire…not that chemical stuff they use in the MRE's, mind you, or those human zappy things they have in the cafeteria."

James grinned a little at Kari who just shook her head exhaustedly.  
"Microwaves?"

"Yeah…ugh. Microwaves. They always make the food taste like rubber. No sir, what we need is a good ol' fashioned wood fire…"  
He licked his lips with a loud smack.  
"Mmm…now I wonder if they would be dextro or levo amino fish…"

"The groundskeeper said there weren't any fish in the lake." Aesha noted, a sly smile on her lips. Kari had noticed that she rather enjoyed giving Tullius a hard time, even though she pretended to be aloof.

Tullius rolled his eyes at her comment, "Of course he would say that, love. He's one of _them_."

"One of _them_?" Kari asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Yeah, you know. He's a talking suit, (no offense),a corporate lacky trying to keep the little Turian down…but I know the truth! And one day, I'm going to have me a fresh cooked, wood smoked, Presidium fish."

Kari nodded her head. The answer was as stupid as she thought it would be, but she had grown accustomed to the Turian's strange sense of humor.

She enjoyed these walks; they were always a source of delight for her, whether it was just her and James, or all four of them. She thought they must have looked like an oddity on the Presidium, most everyone here was so stylish and proper. Most of the people on the Presidium also tended to segregate themselves as well, you would see a group of Turians together, or humans. It wasn't a conscious choice, most people preferred spending time with those they were comfortable with. Most of the time, that meant individuals of the same sex or race.

Yet, here they were, Quarian, Human, Turian and Asari walking through the gardens, talking, laughing, and enjoying each other's company.

Tullius looked over at James with a sly smirk,

"Hey, Irving, what is the first thing that a human soldier says when meeting a Turian."

James shook his head, "I give up."

Tullius gave a look of mock surprise. "Oh, so you've heard this one?"

Kari blinked, she could quite believe that Tullius could be so insensitive, but James didn't seem to be mad.

James gave an impish frown, "Oh har har. Very funny. Did I tell you the one about the Turian First Contact policy?"

Tullius shrugged, "Shoot."

"Exactly."

Tullius laughed, "I guess I stepped into that one didn't I?"

James gave a snort, "Yes, yes you did."

Tullius looked over at Kari with a wolfish grin.

"Did I tell you the one about the Quarian with a cold?"

Kari gave Tullius a dirty look, "Hey! I'm standing right here!"

Aesha prodded Tullius with a finger, "Leave the poor girl alone, Tully."

Tullis held up his hands innocently, "What? I didn't do anything. I was just going to tell the charming story of –"

Aesha poked him harder.  
"Alright! Alright! Take it easy…don't pick on the poor little Quarian. Got it."

James chuckled.  
A short time later they had reached the end of the garden, the normal turning around point for their little party.  
James didn't seem like he wanted to go just yet, however, he was staring off at the distant lifts on the other side of the bridge from where the garden was.

"I think I'm going to head down to the Zakera ward today. There's a few things I wanted to check out."

"Oooh, that sounds like fun." Tullius said, but then he caught Aesha glaring at him.  
"Orrrrr…. I could go back to my hospital bed and mope around while James gets to have all the fun…that sounds like a better idea."

Aesha gave him a smugly sweet smile of approval, Tulluis just sighed heavily.  
"I'll catch you back at Huerta then." James smiled, patting the Turian on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Yeah, see you there… you coming Kari?"  
Kari shook her head. "No, I'm going to go with James. I'd like to see if they have anything I could take back to the fleet."

Tullius shrugged, that same wolfish grin spreading across his face.  
"Okay, sure. Have fun with your _boyfriend_. We'll see you tonight then. Ow-"

Tullius gave a sharp exhale as Aesha poked him again, this time collecting her mate and pulling him away with an apologetic smile.

"You kids have fun!" she beamed, before turning to Tullius, her words of scolding lost over the sound of the nearby fountain's splashing water.

Kari blushed heavily, but she didn't say anything as she watched them go. She didn't say anything until she noticed James looking at her like…oh, Keelah, how did that human idiom go?

_The cat that swallowed the carnie?_

"What?" she asked hesitantly.  
"Oh nothing…just enjoying the scenery." James was grinning like a Cheshire cat.  
Kari felt even more blood rush to her face, she clasped her hands together and fidgeted a bit.

"S-should we go then?." Kari asked turning her head away from James so he couldn't see her eyes.

"Yes. I' heard they had a couple of ships up for auction too, might make a nice pilgrimage gift." He noted, trying to edge his way around her hood so he could see her eyes again. Kari resisted his attempts to make eye contact with her.

She hadn't told him about the data she had collected on Eden Prime, it was truly awe inspiring stuff, methods of farming that if they worked, could double or triple the liveship's food yields, but if it didn't work or the Admiralty board decided not to use it, she would have essentially brought nothing back with her.

Kari kept quiet for the elevator trip and for some time after they arrived on Zakera ward near the docking rings, where the scrap yards and surplus dealers were. James decided not to say anything, although her unusual silence permeated the air, even when he tried to engage her in conversation she was distant.

After a short time, James gave up, parting with Kari as he set about looking for the parts and materials he needed.

His first stop was to the Alliance military surplus. They had all sorts of stuff, some of it ancient looking…over a hundred years old or more.  
The first thing on his list was a proper respirator, sure the one he had now was alright, but it restricted his range of motion, lacked portability and durability. He found what he was looking for in the form of an older model military gas-mask designed to seal with a suit of combat armour. It had both the range of motion he needed and was aestheically more pleasing to him than the anti-septic clear face-mask he wore now.

It took him some time of looking through the store's vast inventory for awhile before he found the rest of what he needed: Armour plating, A recon hood like the one Bishop wore; a set of Umbra enhanced night vision goggles; heavy black trench-style combat boots; a roll of dense palladium weave with internal shield emitters (the stuff that the military used for under armour) and, an older model more conservative model of the Securitel series of helmets.

As much as he loved his TACC Death-mask, James was afraid because of his need for a respirator, it had seen the end of its combat days. All the rest of his armour had belonged to the Alliance; they had taken it along with pretty much everything else he had when he was discharged.

The total cost of it all together pretty much wiped out his bank account and most of his savings. He was left with less than seven thousand credits which he used to buy a top-of-the-line M-55 Argus carbine with an adjustable hybrid scope, improved stabilizers and a magazine upgrade from Rodam Expeditions, the local weapons dealer.

While the rest of the gear he had bought today was mostly second-hand or surplus, the Argus felt good in his hands, the grip was flawless and James felt a tiny spike of adrenaline wash down his limbs as he held his new weapon for the first time. It was a solid, reliable and cutting edge rifle, used by law enforcement across the galaxy.

It was heavier than the M-8 Avenger, but it packed a lot more of a kick as well. The Turian who ran the shop had let James one of the display models on the store's rifle range and he instantly fell in love with it. He was enraptured by of control it gave him, it was far better than his M-8 which had a tendency to spray rounds, even when burst fired.

This was due to the projectile shaver's design; the M-8 used a much faster but less precise shaver that often loaded misshapen rounds into the mass accelerator. It was useful for weapon for mid-ranges, suppression tactics or large groups of enemies, but at distance it was woefully lacking.

The Argus on the other hand used a system that ensured that every single shot shaved from the ammo block was aerodynamically sound, and therefore would fly straight when fired. The rate of fire was slower but far more accurate.

The clerk nodded to James as the credits cleared.  
"There we go. Everything's in order. Did you want me to put it in the case for you?" the Turian asked James, who was still cradling the rifle in his arms like a long lost friend.

"Oh…right. Yeah I suppose that would be best."

While James technically had a license to carry military grade firearms, he didn't think it would be a wise idea to go walking around the Citadel with the dangerous looking weapon.

James handed the Argus back to the Turian hesitantly, thumbing over the weapon's safety to storage mode. The Argus folded itself up with a soft whirr of gyros as the Turian placed it in the gun-case. He snapped the lid shut and handed the case to James with the Turian equivalent of a smile.

"Thanks for your business, have a pleasant day."

James nodded politely as he took the case in his hand.  
"Thanks, you too."

After he was done, James had the rest of the materials he had purchased sent up to his hospital room at Heurta, seeing how he had no residence as of yet, but he kept the M-55 with him, sealed in its case. It was too expensive and too precious to let out of his sight.

He went looking for Kari, and it wasn't long before he found her browsing at the local scrapyard, or as the sign put it "Dovin Kang's Used Parts."

From a brief glance, James could tell that the store was mostly an off-loading place for tech that the citizens of the galaxy didn't want anymore, but didn't want to throw away.

James saw all sorts of things, old omni-tool models, weapon components, ship hardware and even little holos of ships were on display with pricetags ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of credits.

It was here, where James found Kari, eyeing number of models in the lower end of the price ranges. Her eyes were focused and her stance contemplative, as if she was running numbers in her head, trying to figure out how she could possibly afford even the smallest ship.

If James could have seen into Kari's mind, he would have found that he was right. Kari couldn't believe the asking price for some of the ships she had seen. Even the ones that were decades old, stripped of everything but the most basic systems were well out of her financial means.

She furrowed her brow in desperate irritation. It was no wonder to her that some Qurians spend years or even decades before returning to the fleet. She had always thought that they had been traveling around the galaxy, enjoying the freedom of youth before inevitably coming home to settle down.

Now it was becoming clear to her, that they probably spent most of their pilgrimage working for enough credits to bring back something worthy.

It had been little over a month, and Kari was starting to miss home already, she couldn't imagine spending a year or more away from the fleet.

_"Ahem."_

The gravelly bass of James's damaged vocal chords interrupted her thoughts. She looked over to see him standing next to her, looking at the particular ship she had been looking at.

Type: Turian civilian freighter.  
Registry name: Fortiden.  
Price: Seventy-thousand.

"Owch." James gave a long whistle. "That's a lot of money." He noted dolefully. Kari nodded sadly.  
"Yes, and it's the cheapest one I can find here."

James looked at the ship's specs. It was a piece of junk, stripped of anything valuable, it was nothing more than the husk of a ship with some basic drives, an ancient VI and a peashooter for protection.

_Scratch that. A peashooter would do more damage._

James thought as he stood up, his eyes scanning across the holos of the ships on display.

"Ah they are all junk anyway." He said soothingly, giving Kari a little grin. Kari didn't seem to want to be consoled though.  
"Hey, look, maybe you can get something else? A nice drive core perhaps or some parts that the flotilla needs?"

Kari shook her head, "It wouldn't be good enough." She said sadly.  
James frowned, according to what she had told him about the Migrant fleet, they were usually accepting of most gifts that were brought back, even the humble ones.  
"Well, why not?"

Kari paused for a moment; she figured that sooner or later that James would find out anyway. "My father is a Captain of the Vanya." Kari admitted with a heavy sigh.

"So…he's a big deal then?" James spoke hesitantly, not quite understanding Kari's reasoning.  
Kari turned to face James, she looked a little insulted. _"The Vanya is one of the most powerful ships in the heavy fleet. It's been with the flotilla since the exodus from the homeworld!"_

"Sorry!" James said, backing away a bit, his hands up defensively. He was surprised by the sudden burst of anger from the typically calm Quarian girl.

Kari realized her mistake, "I-I'm sorry…it's just that…our people take great pride in the ships we are born on, the ships we serve on…."

James lowered his hands, "It's okay. I understand. Humans can be the same way, though usually about football teams."

Kari tilted her head, her eyes drawing up into curious orbs "Football?"

James gave a slight smile, "It's a sport where two teams try to kick a round ball into the other team's-…" James looked up at Kari, she was staring at him like he had a bug crawling out of his ear.  
"Err-…nevermind. You were saying…?"

Kari blinked, her mind entertaining the thought of asking the doctor about James's mental health later.

"Well…you see, because of my father's position, alot is expected of me. Most Captain's children will bring back a ship or data that significantly helps out the fleet."

"So you're afraid that if you bring back something sub-standard, it will shame your father?" James spoke solemnly.

Kari hung her head dejectedly. "Yes." She said very simply.

James felt genuinely sad for Kari. Failing to live up to a father's expectation's was something he had been all too familiar with.

"He's not going to perform seppuku if you don't bring back a dreadnought is he?" James smirked.

Kari looked over at James with a surprised stutter, "W-what?"

James grinned from ear to ear, "He's not going to ritualistically commit suicide if you fail is he?"

Kari blinked, clasping her hands together in a nervous bundle. She had never considered that before "N-no…h-he w-wouldn't, I don't t-think-…"

James put a finger up to her visor, over her voice filter. He gave her a comforting grin.  
"Then don't worry about it."

Kari felt her tensions melt away in that smile. He was right. She worried far too much…it was hard not to.  
"O-okay." She forced herself to give an uneasy smile back, although she knew that James probably couldn't see it through her visor.

"Come on. I've got a few credits left…maybe we can go get some of the Turian ice-cream you like so mu-…"

James paused mid-sentence, his the pupils of his violet eyes drew tightly together as his eyelids opened to their fullest extent.  
"No…" he whispered, his voice distant and filled with awe. "It can't be…"

But it was. There, at the very far end of the room, was a small flickering holo of a ship with deep black scoring along its hull in several places.  
The interface underneath read:

Halcyon  
Alliance Military Frigate  
500,000 Credits

* * *

_Five hundred thousand credits._

It was more than he made in the N7's in five years…before taxes.  
James sat up in his hospital bed again, his feet hanging off into the space beyond the hard, unforgiving thin mattress. Kari sat next to him in the lounge chair, she looked far from comfortable, but she didn't seem to care. She was more interested in James now, he had been very morose since they had returned from Zakera Ward.

_He is thinking about that ship, his ship._

Kari observed sullenly as she watched James's violet eyes stare off across the Presidium. She could almost see the gears in his head moving behind his pupils. He was thinking, pondering, working on the problem of how exactly to acquire his old frigate.

Kari understood how he felt. It was never an easy thing for a Quarian to see the ship of his or her birth be destroyed or sold in exchange for parts. It was a rare thing in the flotilla, ships were by far the most valued and important resource available to the fleet, but unfortunately it did happen, sometimes ships were just too old or beyond repair for even her people to fix.

The silence between them was getting a bit uncomfortable

"Hey, do you want to go get some ice cream?" Kari said, attempting to start a conversation.

"You go ahead. I'll stay here." James replied somewhat dismissively. Kari furrowed her brow a bit, she hadn't know James for very long, but he had never been like this.

"I'm worried about you…" she admitted after a long moment of silence. James paused for a moment, before turning to meet her gaze, the slow hiss of the respirator echoing in the silence of the hospital room.

"You shouldn't. There's nothing to worry about." He stated simply, although he seemed not entirely convinced of his own words.

Kari moved forward sitting down next to him on the bed, extending her hand in a gesture of across his back. He did not recoil at her touch, despite the small aches he felt pulsing through his still battered skin.  
"It's hard…" he admitted, "Seeing her like that. Even on the holo."

"It's never easy to lose a home…" she murmured softly, her hand carefully avoiding the worse of his wounds as she rubbed up and down his back.

James looked over at her, his eyes confirming what she already knew.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" he asked quietly, burying his forehead in his palm.

Kari didn't want to admit it, and she certainly knew it was not an easy thing to hear, but she felt it needed to be said.

"Sometimes you just have to let things go…" she whispered, her voice trailing off as the memories of the Ellis's and her friends on Eden Prime flashed across her mind.

James shook his head vehemently, "That's not good enough." He spat, "No there's got to be a way, there's always another way…"

Kari sat there for a moment, unsure of what to say next. She wished more than anything that she had the power to just go and fix everything.  
She wanted to give James the ship he wanted; to give him his lungs back; to give her people the homeworld and her father the daughter he always wanted.

She wished that she could do something other than just sit here and offer empty platitudes to her friend.

"Wait…" James said, putting his hand on Kari's arm.  
"That's it! That's the solution!" he cried out as he jumped into action, swinging his feet of the other side of the bed onto the floor.  
Kari looked taken aback. "What? What's the solution?" she said as she fumbled her hands against his shirt, protesting his rise from the hospital bed.  
"W-wait…what are you doing? You should rest."

James shook his head, he was already lacing up his boots. "No time. Have to get down to the VA's office before they close." He fired off, sounding more like the salarian doctor than himself.

Kari barely had time to open her mouth again to protest before he was out of the bed and on his feet, racing around the edge to her side in less than a second. He leaned down and before Kari could say another word he gave her a peck of his respirator on the visor over her cheek, beaming ecstatically.  
"You're a genius! Gotta go!" and without another word he bolted from the room, in a half-run half limp fashion.

Kari just sat there, staring into the space where James's face had been when he kissed her. He kissed her.  
Kari wasn't quite sure what exactly to think, or why the image of his actual lips on hers was so suddenly and deeply imprinted on her mind. And why did the thought seem so…enticing….

Kari heard several vociferous cries from nurses as James sped down the hallway towards the lifts.  
But neither of them cared, for the first time since Eden Prime, they had hope for the future.

The wait at the Alliance's office for Veteran's Affairs on the Citadel wasn't a long one. It was close to closing time and much of the staff had already left for the day.  
There was only one lone clerk left, a human girl of about twenty or so, likely the intern, left to close up shop.

James stood over her desk, with a rather sour look on his face. The place made him sick, even just standing in the VA's office he felt the harsh sting of betrayal and loss again. He inwardly wondered if he was doing the right thing, after all, who was to say that he wouldn't feel like this standing on the deck of the Halcyon again.  
But it honestly didn't matter, credits were credits and if he didn't buy the Halcyon from the scrap dealer, he was sure to find a ship just as good or better.

The Sscretary looked up from behind her glasses, giving James a slightly disdainful look. She sighed, resigning herself to do her job quickly and go home. She just hoped it wasn't another damned complaint.

"Name?"

"James W. Irving. Alliance Marines, N7, serial number N7-1168907" he rattled off with little hestitation.

It knew it all by heart now, although James suspected it would the last time he would ever be asked to recall it. The girl raised an eyebrow but typed in the information quickly, giving a subtle nod as the information came up on the screen.

_Lt James Irving,  
Alliance Marines  
Honourable discharge on disability  
Blah blah blah  
Full privileges_

"There we are..." she said speeding through the lines quickly.  
No red text, or any flagged sections. No restrictions of privileges. Everything was on the up and up.  
She relaxed a little bit, at least she wouldn't have to hear more bitching today.  
Well, probably not anyway.

"So," she said at last, "What can I do for you, Mr Irving?"

_Mr Irving._  
James didn't like the sound of that. It had been less than a month since he was discharged and already he was _Mr Irving_.

James grimaced, "I'd like to cash out my pension please."

The secretary blinked, that wasn't a request she got often. It was part of the Alliance GI bill, and it was a quick way to get cash, but it came at a hell of a cost.

"You realize sir, that by cashing out your pension you are no longer eligible for benefits such as medical, dental, life insurance and all other associated clauses."

James nodded grimly, "I know."  
He didn't have private insurance either, James never planned for a day when he would be out of the Corps. He had always thought he would die wearing the uniform, whether it was on some distant battlefield or behind a desk at a ripe old age.

"And furthermore you would only be entitled to the equivalent of twenty years pay, and that amount is still considered taxable."

James furrowed his brow impatiently. He was starting to get irritated, he didn't need to be reminded, he already knew all his rights, and he was going to be damned if he paid taxes to the Alliance after what they did to him.

"Yes. I know. Do it anyway."

The sectetary put up her hands defensively, "Okay. Let me process the paperwork, and I'll need you to sign the release."

James looked down at the terminal built into the secretary's desk that faced towards him, a document appeared on the screen. It had several parts to it outlining the terms in legal jargon.  
He read over it quickly before signing on the first page, then the fifth page, and then the very last one. He didn't bother with the fine print, he honestly wanted to have nothing to do with the Alliance after this was over.

The document disappeared and the screen returned to its normal blank navy blue.

The secretary typed in a few last things, grabbed an empty credit chit from a drawer in her desk and zipping it into her omni-tool.

"Alright. There we are." she said at last, handing the chit to James. "Best of luck to you sir." she said cordially enough.

James looked down at the chit, His mind trying to wrap around the significance of it. The display showed the credit icon and a two followed by six zeros, but all James could see where the long years of training, sacrifice and blood he had split for the Alliance. The faces of his fallen comrades and friends.

And now, all that was in the palm of his hand.  
It filled him with hate.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?" the secretary asked, noting the ex-marine's long pause.

"Yeah...can you get a message to Captain Jonah Hall, Alliance Navy, here on the station for me?"

The secretary looked at him with a puzzled expression. Her office didn't usually take care of that sort of thing, but it wasn't beyond her abilities.

"I can... What message would you like to send?"

James looked up, his eyes blazing like a crystaline fire.

_"Tell him he can kiss the darkest part of my lily white ass."_

* * *

Two million credits.

_Over two million credits!_

Kari could scarcely believe it. She had never seen that much money on a single chit before. It was enough money to buy a small fleet of shuttles like the one she used. She looked up at James, he was grinning triumphantly.

"H-how did you-? Where did you-?" Kari sputtered, her tongue seemingly tied into knots as she tried to speak.

James smiled giddily. "I did what you said. I let go."

Kari looked up at him, puzzled, stunned, still tongue-tied, her brain slicing through all possible scenarios on how James could have come up with such a large sum so quickly.

James laughed heartily, though it still hurt his lungs to do so…in fact a lot of things were starting to hurt again, now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

"I cashed in my pension and benefits. Closed my bank accounts." He stated, with a sort of sardonic mirth.

"Everything I have, you are holding in your hands right now."  
Kari looked up at James, and then back down at the chit. Realization seeping into her brain like a thick smoke.

"Doesn't that mean you-" James nodded, cutting her off.

"Don't have medical anymore? Yeah. The doctor told me I have till tomorrow morning."

Kari furrowed her brow into a worried frown, "And then?" she asked hesitantly, already knowing the answer.

_"I'm on my own."_

He stated, matter of factually, crossing his arms over his chest.

"But…you aren't fully healed yet…"

James could hear the concern in her voice. It was rather touching really.  
"I know." He said, softening his tone a little.

"But I'll have a ship, and enough money to outfit her and keep her running for awhile. I'll be alright."

Kari looked down at the chit again. She wanted to say something more, but it was too much to process. There were so many thoughts going through her head. It felt like the Ellis's all over again, worse even. She had spent so much time getting to know James, to learn about his people and had grown to respect and care for him. Just for him to…leave.

Kari thought she was going to have more time.

"Hey."

James said, noticing the dim ovals of Kari's eyes drawn up in melancholy slits.  
Kari looked up at him sadly; she took his left hand in her hands and patted it gently, more for her comfort than his.

"I'm sure you will do well..." She said, her voice small in her throat.

James extended his right hand and brusher her chin gently, tilting her head up so he could see her eyes again.  
They were stunning things; he had never quite appreciated the beauty of those twin points of soft blue light.

Except for the slight curvature of the tip of her nose, they were the only thing he could make out in that deep field of misty purple, but it was enough to make him smile every time.

"Well, I hope so… but that kind of depends on you."

Kari tilted her head curiously; there was a soft sparkle in her eyes. James knew what it was: Hope and that made him smile all the more.

"I was hoping that a certain Quarian might be interested in helping me out with the ship and I thought maybe you could talk to her…see if she's interested."

James grinned impishly as he spoke, bowing his head and looking up past his brow with a little smirk.  
Although he couldn't see Kari's lips, he could tell she was smiling.

"Oh yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Err..I mean-…" Kari tried to regain her composure; she had almost been jumping up and down with glee.

"I think she will be _very_interested." she grinned teasingly, rapping her arms around James's back and squeezing him tightly.

"Ow-ow-ow!"

"Sorry! Keelah, I'm so sorry!" Kari released her grip immediately, panic entering her voice as she realized she was hurting him.

James grinned weakly and clutched his side. "It's okay. I didn't need those ribs anyway." He smirked teasingly, in an attempt to assuage Kari.

_"Looks like she's trying to kill you again."_

Came a voice from the door, They both turned around to see Tullius and Aesha standing just outside the door, bags in hand and Tullius in a full suit of red and black combat armour.

"And did I hear someone say, _roadtrip_?"

James stood back to his full height again, a chuckle forming in his throat.

"So did you ask her yet?"

Kari looked over at James, a little smirk on her lips as she raised an eyebrow.

James nodded, with a wolfish grin. "You saw how she attacked me."

Tullius shook his head, "Told you…should have just sent her an email."

James shrugged, "Eh figured the personal touch was better."

"And did you also figure that you perhaps should have asked me first? Hmm?" Kari pointed out, her voice playful as she crossed her arms in mock anger over her chest.

"Well… I saved the best for last, of course."

Kari smiled and released her arms to give him another, softer hug.

"Good answer."

_"Hey! I'm standing right here, you know!"_

James grinned. "Sorry Tullius, but she brought me ice-cream for two weeks straight."

Tullius threw his hands up in mock indignation as he turned to Aesha.

"I knew it. I told you all along, Aesh, friendship is based on bribes."

Aesha just shook her head and smiled.

"Well, come on." James said after he and Kari broke their hug

"Let's go get a ship."

* * *

"It's a very fine vessel-ssshhhhh-I'm glad you came along-shhhhhhh-when you did." The stubby looking volus said as he led the four potential buyers to the docking ring.

"I would have-sshhhhh-hated to send her to the-shhhhhh-smelter."

James walked behind the volus at a rather causal pace, keeping his usually long strides short so not to over-take the much smaller Volus. Kari was at this side, keeping step with him, and Tullius and Aesha were behind them.

James took a sidelong glance at Kari as they walked, the volus Dovin Kang continuing on in his short bursts of droning speech about the Halcyon.

Although James had seen her every day since he had first met her on Eden Prime, he had never actually looked at her.

Kari was tall for a Quarian, James figured about 1.8 meters, give or take a few centimeters, although she lost a bit of that height because she tended to slump a bit. It was hardly noticeable, but it told him much of her personality.

Even if he hadn't known her, James could have told you that she wasn't a particularly bold sort. Her body language was withdrawn, cloistered, taciturn. Yet there seemed to be a gentleness about her, something that made James just want to hug her.

But it wasn't just her mannerism that kept his gaze. He studied her envirosuit carefully. It was a rather old looking thing, well worn in several places, with what looked like interlocking sections of under-armour beneath the plates.  
It looked much like the stuff James had bought back at the surplus store, but instead of being one long strip of fabric it was cut into sections.

James remembered Kari mention that their suits were designed to allow easy field repair and first aid treatment to be applied without breaking having to remove the suit.

Yet, most of the suit's inner workings were hidden from his view by the long piece of deep vibrant purple fabric that was tied tightly around her body.  
It started at thigh level, drawing snugly around her bottom and hips, crossing in front of her stomach and wrapping up and around the small of her back.  
From there one of the tails of the frabic was brought up and across her right chest and hooked over her left shoulder and then back down across her back.

The excess material, formed the suit's hood that fell just a little bit longer than the average, nearly covering her eyes from sight. The fabric itself looked like it had once born a silver crested wave pattern, but it had faded from the material with age.

The style was typical for a young Quarian woman to wear, one that had not yet finished her pilgrimage. Yet, despite its somewhat worn appearance, James found the ensemble strangely alluring. The snug nature of the suit, and how the weave of the fabric drew one's eye to the natural curves and bends of Kari's form…

Kari noticed his overly long glance and looked up at him curiously. James turned his head away quickly, his cheeks burning from embarrassment.

_No._

James turned scolded himself for thinking such thoughts about Kari.

She was Quarian girl, he was a human, and while they had become close over these last few weeks, James knew their relationship had been born of necessity rather than desire for the other's company.

That doesn't seem right. I do desire her company…but then again the same can be said of Tullius and Aesha.

James thought, his pace becoming a bit slower as he gazed at the back of Dovin Kang's head pensively.  
Even if I did like her, in that way…there's no way it could work.

_She's coming with us because she needs to find something to take back to the Migrant Fleet and staying with us is her best option at this point._

The other part of James's mind piped up again.

Yes, but then why did she stay with you when you had no ship, and had no future?

James frowned, his face was starting to turn flush in frustration.

_Well- she was just keeping a promise to her friends on Eden Prime._

But wasn't saving you a kindness? She fulfilled her promise then. Face it, she stayed because she _wanted_to.

James grumbled sub-vocally. It was mental enough having an argument with yourself…it was worse to lose it.

_Just shut the hell up._

Although, James had to admit to himself, that...err...himself, was right. Kari could have left at any time. She could have moved on, found somewhere else to go. She had a shuttle, it wasn't like she was stuck with him. No, she had chosen to stay.

For what reason, James wasn't entirely sure, but he had to admit, the realization made him feel rather affectionate towards her.

He decided to suppress his feelings, however, for they could never be together. They were from different species, had different cultures, even their animo-acids were incompatible.

_But, then again..._

His thoughts were interrupted by a large gun-metal grey security door that loomed over them.

_Loading Bay B-4_

The large letters over the doorway read.

"Here-sssssshhhh- we are." The volus said, swiping his omni-tool with a waving motion across the security door. The door beeped and whoosed open.

James looked up…  
He wasn't sure exactly how he would feel, seeing the Halcyon again…but now that he was standing here…looking up at her….

"As you can see-sshhhh-the ship's taken quite a breating-sssshhhh-but the damage is mostly superficial. She's structurally sound-sssshhhh-she just needs some love."

James nodded slowly, pensively. James had seen the ship many times before, and each time it filled him with a sense of quiet awe, but this time, it felt more personal…as if he was looking into a dim reflection of himself.

"That she does…I'll take her."

The Volus turned around, looking up at the human with a bit of surprise. "You will? You don't want to-ssshhhhh-see the inside first?"

James shook his head, there was no doubt in his mind anymore. The Halcyon would be his, she was strong, she was graceful, and she had been thrown out by the Alliance when she ceased to be useful.

_She was perfect._

"No, I've seen enough. I want to buy her, but maybe….we can talk about the price?"

The volus tilted his head and crossed his arms. "Prices-ssshhhh-are final." He stated with mild irritation. He was obviously used to customers thinking they could haggle with a scrap-dealer.

James smiled sagely.

"Yes, but like you said before…she's been stripped of all but her core and main computer. I want to refit her…and I'd be willing to send a few more credits your way…if we can do business…"

Dovin Kang seemed to ponder this for a moment, the tight lattice of his stubby arms loosening visibly. Finally he waved his hand acceptingly.

"Alright, we can do business. I have-sssshhhhh- a selection of older Alliance tech-ssssshhhhh- that I think would work well for-sshhhhhhh- getting her back on her feet."

James smiled and offered his hand to the Volus. Dovin hesitated for a moment before clasping it with his own tiny stub of a hand.

The volus offered what looked like a friendly tip of his head.

"I can change the registry name, if you'd like as well…no charge."

James looked up at the ship's side, where the name Halcyon, was scrawled in navy blue ink.

James turned to Tullius, Kari and Aesha. His gaze focused on each one of them, studying their faces. He wanted to remember this moment.

He turned back to Dovin,

"We'll call her **Revenant**…"


	7. Chapter 7: Reflections

_*Content advisory: This chapter contains suggestive imagery that likely go beyond Teen rating. Viewer discretion is advised._

**Chapter 7: Reflections**

The Revenant was an impressive ship, even now in its current condition Tullius could appreciate the design. She was an Alliance heavy frigate, twice as large as a normal frigate. It was faster, tougher but slightly less maneuverable. Still, with the proper pilot, Tullius knew she could dance just as gracefully as one of her lighter cousins.  
Then went in through the cargo bay, as that was where the docking cradle had been connected to.

From the scuff marks on the deck and the large dooway that they entered through, he suspected that this had been where the Alliance crew offloaded most of the ship's equipment.

The bay itself was large, big enough to hold four Alliance UT-47 shuttles and enough equipment to keep them running. Tullius hadn't really discussed with James what kind of business they would be doing with such a ship, but he was sure a large bay to hold cargo in would come in handy.

They made their way through the rest of the ship, stopping by each deck to evaluate and assess what kind of work needed to be done to get the ship operational again.  
The entire ship had been gutted, from bow to stern there was almost nothing left that wasn't bolted or welded to the deck plating.

It was sad to see a ship in this condition, Tullius tried to imagine what she would have been like in her glory days, back when she was young and on the front lines, fighting in one of the famed Alliance wolfpacks that tore so many of their enemies to pieces.

James had told him once that when he was an cadet, he and the Halcyon had fought on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz. He wasn't post to the ship at the time, but he remembered seeing her in action over the golden wheat fields, performing strike after strike against entrenched Batarian positions, all while evading pirate fighters and frigates.

Their team had been one of the last soldiers left on the planet, fighting waves of batarian pirates and slavers. A young Lt by the name of Shepard had rallied the Marines together and counterattacked, even though the battle seemed hopeless. Together they bought enough time for the Halcyon and other ships to evacuate the civilians and reinforcements to arrive.

It was an impressive feat, Tullius had seen the reports, the Alliance had been outnumbered twelve to one on that day, and yet they had managed to hold the line.  
Even in the ship's sad state, Tullius could see the potential in her to be great again, and it seemed that James did too.  
Perhaps that is why he had been so obsessed with saving her.

After some time, they finally reached the CIC. Loose wires hung from the ceiling panels like the branches of a willow tree and various beams, girders and panels lay strewn across the floor, most of them left where they had fallen, others laid haphazardly out of the walkway.

The consoles and chairs sat empty and unattended., the flickering blue hologram of the galaxy map was the only light source left in the room, but its projector had been damaged by a falling beam.  
The hologram shifted and fluttered, the tired old projector trying its hardest to feed information through its shattered outputs. The resulting picture was a mess of static and distortions, swirls of stars and planets flashing through the circuits for an instant before disappearing again.

James stepped forward, silently thumbing the display's manual shutdown switch, cutting the power. The projector hummed in quiet appreciation as it fell silent and the image died.  
James turned back towards them, the room was almost total darkness except for the light from their omni-tool's flashlights.

There was a long moment's pause between all of them, before James finally spoke.  
"I know why you all agreed to come here, and I appreciate it…" James sighed heavily, the soft hiss of his respirator breaking the near deathly silence.

"But I'm not going to lie to you: this is not going to be easy, it's going to be hard, dangerous work. I intend to put this ship and myself in harm's way, to do work that no one else can do…and the reward for a job well done is another day of existence."

James shook his head, "If you want out, then now is the time, I'll help you out the best I can: help you find a new home." He said nodding to Tullius and Aesha. "Or take you back to the Migrant Fleet." He looked over to Kari.

"But I won't just going quietly into the night. If I'm going to live, I'm going to fight…and if I'm going down, then I'm going down in a blaze of glory. I'll be damned if the galaxy has seen the last of me."

There was a bout of prolonged silence, before Tullius stepped up into the light.  
"I assume this means we will be tracking down the synthetic bastards that attacked Eden Prime?"

James nodded vehemently, "You bet your ass, we will."

Tullius grinned, "Then you've got yourself a Turian." He chuckled, reaching out to clasp James's hand.

Aesha sighed heavily, she also stepped forward into the light, her light blue skin contracted into a grimace.

"Well, if Tully is going with you, Then I am to." She looked around the ship with a slightly disgruntled look.

"This place could use a woman's touch…and you'll need a pilot."

James blinked. "You're a pilot?"

Aesha nodded, "Asari Navy. Gunship pilot for thirty years."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" James inquired, having a hard time believing that the graceful, delicate looking woman before him had been in the military.

"You didn't ask." She said simply, a little Tullius-like grin forming on her lips.

"Honestly, James, how did you think we met?"

James blinked again, shaking his head slowly, "I don't know. You said that you had a lot of sleepless nights when Tullius was on deployment."

Tullius laughed, "Exactly. She would fly us out to the middle of spirits-know-where, leaving us to sleep in the freezing rain while she went back to the ship to sleep in her warm bed."

Aesha turned to Tullius, a smile on her lips as she put her hands on the taller Turian's chestplate.

"The bed was always warmer when you were on shore leave…" she giggled impishly.

Tullius grinned, "Yes they were…I daresay you got even less sleep on those nights…"

"Okay!" Kari pipped up, her cheeks going red with embarrassment. James was chuckling

"Oh sweetie…" Aesha chuckled with a teasingly patronizing smile. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, trust me, when you find the right one and take him to your room for the-"

_"KEELAH!"_Kari reached up, putting her hands over her suit's auditory sensors.

All three of them laughed heartily.

Kari gave James a dirty look.  
James smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, "Okay, okay. We'll stop…" James managed through bursts of chuckles.

Kari lowered her hands cautiously.

"For now." Tullius added, giving Kari a wide mischievous grin.

Kari frowned, and sighed in resignation. She was going to have to get a switch for her suit's audio receptors…or a pair or earplugs.

The laughter subsided after a few moments, James looked at Kari, she still looked slightly annoyed, but she was still looking at James expectantly.

James hesitated, he had already asked her to come with him once, and she had said yes, but now that she had seen the ship, seen all the work that had to be done…and that was going to be the easy part.

"What about you, Kari…?"

He said, expecting a long pause while she weighed her options, but instead she just nodded.

"I said I'd stay, and I will. _For you_."

She looked over at Tullius and Aesha. They both still had a very slight smirks painted on their faces.

"But _they_are going to have to behave." She added with a playful smirk of her own.

Tullius turned to Aesha with mock indignation,  
"Why, whatever could she be talking about? We have been nothing but gracious ever since we met her."

Aesha sighed, "I don't know love. She obviously hates our kind."

Tullius shook his head and huffed, "I'm sorry, Captain Irving, we can't stay on a ship where we are discriminated against in this way!"

James snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "I think you both missed your calling. You should done stand-up. And stop calling me Captain. I never earned that rank."

Tullius grinned, "Thank you, _Captain_, and I'll try to work on that,_sir_." Tullis gave a crisp Turian salute.

Aesha nodded, "You've got a ship, you're a captain now, James."

James shook his head, "No, I'm not. Besides, we are all in this together. There's no rank here."

"In the Migrant Fleet, anyone that commands a ship is a Captain. Regardless of military rank…." Kari added her voice trailing off a bit as James gave her a scrutinizing glare.

She blushed under her visor.

James covered his brow with the palm of his hand.  
"Well, since I can see you all aren't going to let this go… then I suppose it's KP duty for the lot of you for speaking disrespectfully to a superior officer."

There was a moment's pause, there was no playful tone in James's voice or face, he looked deadly serious.

Tullius was the first to speak,  
"I for one, would like to withdraw my previous statement."

Aesha raised her hand in agreement, "Me too!"

There was a moment's pause, and all three of them looked at Kari. The Quarian blinked.  
"What's KP duty?"

Tullius laughed, reaching out to pat Kari on the shoulder.

"You'll find out soon enough."

James couldn't help but grin as well. He had no intention of making Kari work in the ship's mess, but he did enjoy watching her sputter nervously.

"W-what- is it bad? Oh Keelah… I-I'm sorry- I d-didn't mean it!"

James couldn't help himself, he wrapped his arms around Kari and gave her a big hug.

"Oh… captain- I-um." Kari stuttered for a moment, before putting her own arms around James's back to return the friendly gesture.

"It's okay, _Miss Vereah_." James inflected blithely.

"I forgive you." James chuckled, his arms like towers around her waist.

Kari closed her eyes and smiled softly.

* * *

_Sky. Violet sky. Pinpricks of light, dancing, dazzling like fire-bugs stuck in the inky void. The soft breath of the wind, cool and salty, carried from the waves. Waves, lapping against the white sands of the shore, reaching out like fingers to carress the face of the Cliffside._

_Warmth, tender warmth, reaching down to embrace her like the night sky, wrapped around her. Arms like Corinthian spires tenderly holding her to between them. The sensation of bare skin, pressed against her pale body, the gentle ravine of lips on her neck and the growing heat between her tighs as her body shifts, bending to his will, like the sands of the shore as the waves of her lover tenderly fold into her._

_Fingers twine together, and so do lips, passionate and sweet, the husky aroma of the man filling her nostrils, unfiltered and unfettered. She opens her eyes, to see, to know. She must know._

_Sky, Violet sky, reflected in his eyes…_

_"I love you, Kari'Vereah."_

Kari opened her eyes.  
The dingy gunmetal grey of the bulkhead was what greeted her vision.  
Kari sat up out of bed slowly. She looked over at the chrono which was the only decoration in her room. Its holographic digits told her it was after mid-night, and some time still till dawn on their ward of the Citadel.

It had been a dream. The beach, the sky, the sands…the man…all a dream. It had all seemed so real though.  
Kari blinked, putting her hand against her visor wearily. She wanted so much to be able to just rub her eyes right now. Another of the many limitations of the suit…she cursed herself silently.

_Of course it was a dream you stupid bosh'tet._

Kari had never been out of her suit, not since she had first received it as a child. She had only ever had it off to do maintaince on it or for hygience herself in one of the Vanya's clean rooms. She had never felt the sensation of the outside air, never felt sand beneath her, or even the embrace of a lover's touch.

She was old enough, twenty years old, she was adult in every way other than finishing her pilgrimage, she just had never gotten around to it. She had been more worried about keeping up with her study of mechanical theorems and engineering, while also trying to learn all she could about biology, agriculture and medicine on the side.

She never had time for men, and she had a bit of a reputation on the Vanya for being a strange one.  
It was weird to her, she had had dreams before of the homeworld, of walking on the beach, or standing on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.  
She had always been alone, there had been no one else there, not even her parents or anyone she knew from the fleet.

It was the first time ever she had someone else in her dreams about Rannoch…and definitely the first time for…well…that kind of dream.

She furrowed her brow a little, thinking back to the conversation the day before.  
Tullius and Aesha had done this, her mind had remembered what they had said, and had decided to torment her, even in her dreams.

She thought about going into Tullius's and Aesha's room and getting revenge somehow. It wasn't far down the hall in the starboard observatory, but she dismissed the idea.

It wasn't like her.

And besides, if her mind was reacting to their gibes, then why was it that she had been the one in the….compromising position.

Her mind traced along the dream sequence, the images were fuzzy, half-remembered in her conscious state.

She tried to remember details about the Quarian she had been with. Any clue who it possibly could have been. Although, she wasn't quite entirely sure she wanted to know, it might have been someone she hated or someone she would really not like to imagine in that way.

But, whether or not she wanted it, the images slowly came back into her mind. She remembered opening her eyes, and looking up into the face of her lover.

But, it wasn't the soft glow of a Quarian's eyes she saw... the irises didn't bear the characteristic luminescent glow.  
It was a reflection she saw, of her own eyes and the sky above. It was as if looking through a dark glass into a violet pool.

The man in her dreams…he had eyes like….

Kari's own eyes went wide, the last vestiges of sleep chased from her mind as she realized just exactly what the dream had been.

No, no, no, that couldn't be right. That was silly, crazy, stupid even for a dream. She couldn't possibly… it couldn't really be…

"Keelah." She whispered softly, as she swung her feet off the edge of the bed and put her visor in her hands.

She felt itchy, she needed to do something, anything…something to get her mind off…whatever this was.

Kari got up, looking around her room for something to work on, or something to read.  
The room was as empty, save a few things that she had brought from her shuttle earlier in the day. Medical supplies, suit repair materials, and a few spare parts that she thought she might be able to use to clean up the Revenant's drive core.

Kari groaned in irritation, sitting back down on her bed, her head hanging dejectedly.  
She didn't want to go back to sleep, she didn't want to deal with this right now.

She didn't want to have these dreams, she didn't want to have this problem…she didn't want to have these feelings for someone she knew could never be with.

_Yes. She had feelings for him._

The admission seemed like a rather stupid thing, but even just admitting it to herself made her feel better. She had felt this way, for awhile now…Kari had first felt something the day that James first talked to her after their initial confrontation. She had been trying to ignore it, hoping that her desire to be something more than a friend would fade away, but ignoring it had only made it worse.

Now he was in her dreams, her dreams of all things, her subconscious mind dwelling on him every moment. It was stupid and trite, and-…

But he had been so nice to her, he had seen her when everyone else just looked. He understood her, and always seemed to know just precisely what to say. He had saved her…he was strong.  
Kari had never told him, but she knew what he had sacrificed for them. Keira had told her… James had disobeyed an order, risked his life, and held off impossible odds in the hopes of saving even just a handful of civilian lives.

It was her fault he was in this mess. If she had done the brave thing, he never would have been injuried, he wouldn't have been discharged. He would have been a hero.

Kari's eyes began to sting a little.

Was it guilt that drove her desires? Did she merely want to comfort him in the only way available to her?  
Was it gratitude? For saving her, for sacrificing so much?  
Or selfishness? For wanting to have someone so…unique and extraordinary.  
Or was it something else, something deeper…

She felt guilty for even thinking such thoughts, although she didn't know why.

She had heard of Quarians having relations with other species before...

_No..._

Their species were too different, there was too much in the way...and it would be selfish of her to put her desires before that of the Migrant Fleet.  
They were depending on her, as they depended on every Quarian on pilgrimage, to bring back something that would keep them alive just a little while longer.  
No it wasn't right, for neither him or her. It was far better if they just remained friends...even though she really didn't want to admit it.  
Besides, why would he even like her in that way, anyway?

Kari fought back tears. She felt helpless again, small, crushed under the weight of her own worries.

She needed to do something. Get her mind off this mess.

Kari stood up, picking up her omni-tool from where she had set it on the table and slipping it back into its mount on her wrist.  
She grabbed a few of the spare parts she had brought aboard and headed quietly down for the engineering deck.  
She would have to figure out a way to deal with this problem sooner or later, but right now, even cleaning up an engine sounded better than just sitting in her room, crying.

* * *

Kari moved quietly through the ship, even though there was little chance of waking anyone. The soft soles of her enviro-suits boots mean that she made little in the way of noise when she walked down the sprawling corridors of the Revanant.

She had never seen this much room on a ship before, on the Flotilla, hallways would be stacked to the ceiling with supplies, the rooms would either have several individuals in them or small families, and there would always be a que of at least three people to the clean rooms.

Yet, on the Revenant, the corridors were empty. There was no noise, no people, not even the sound of ship's engines. Only the quiet hiss of air from the ships environment systems broke the silence, and the footfalls of a single Quarian making her way down towards engineering.

It would have been faster to go by the ship's lifts, but they were still offline due to damage sustained during the battle, and Kari didn't want to use them anyway. They made too much noise, and she didn't want to risk waking anyone.

She climbed down through the ship's tubes that connected the different decks. They were small and cramped, Kari had to crawl on her knees through several of the tubes, but she didn't mind. They sort of reminded her of doing maintenance work on the Vanya with her mother when she was a teen. It was one of the few times that her mom stopped being Chief Engineer Dara'Vereah and was just mom.

The memory evoked an unsolicited smile, as Kari pushed on through the tubes.  
She had no real desire to be an engineer, or a soldier, like her parents were.

Her father wanted to be a captain of a ship one-day. Captain Kari he had called her when she was a child, in the brief moments that he wasn't on duty or on standby. The days before she got her first suit and they would play together in the clean rooms, just him and her. He would let her wear his enviro-suit's visor or play with his unloaded side arm.

"Captain Kari, is going to command the finest vessel in the Fleet someday." He would say, scooping her up in her arms and tossing her in the air.  
It was one of the very few times in her life that she saw her father's face without his suit.

Rarely was her mother there too, her work kept her away most of the time. Kari honestly couldn't remember a time when all three of them were together.

She had wanted so much to please them both, she had worked so hard, trying to be everything they wanted her to be, but as she got older, it got harder…and she started slipping.

Her grades first, then her relationship with her parents had fallen apart as well. She had her father didn't spend time together in the clean rooms anymore. Her mother stopped asking her for help in Engineering.

They always said that they wanted to spend time with her, but were too busy. There was always some emergency to deal with, something always came up. Kari stopped trying after awhile, she started doing things that she liked then.

Art, science, xenobiology. She always kept it hidden, and she always did what she could to pass her courses, but after awhile it was evident to everyone that she just wasn't that interested in becoming a soldier or an engineer.

It seemed ironic to Kari, that even here, far away from the Flotilla, that is likely what would be expected of her.

But then again…all Quarians knew that service came before personal desires.

Kari slipped down the last ladder, her feet hitting the floor with a hard thump as she descended.  
The Engineering deck was nothing particularly special; it was like that of many Alliance vessels.  
It had a gangway that led past a couple of heavy bulkhead doors to the drive core, the gangway overlooked the cargo bay towards the bow of the ship, and there were a set of stairs on either side that lead down to the maintenance access for the drive core's mounting.

It was supposed to be quiet down here, the ship's drive core offline and all the interior lighting off except for the emergency halogens, but that was no the case. Not only did the ship's lighting respond to Kari's presence, flickering on to the present "night" levels, but she heard that sounded like welding.

Kari blinked, she moved around to the left bulkhead door. Quietly, she pressed her suit's auditory sensors up to the metal. She did her welding….and more than that, she could hear the soft thrumming of the drive core.

Kari pressed the door's holographic button, the metal parting with a soft swish.

The scene that greeted Kari's eyes was unbelievable. The room that had been a mess of wires and bent metal had been entirely cleared. There was some residual mess thrown haphazardly in the corner, but the drive core had been repaired and was thrumming quietly.

Over towards the port side of the deck, James stood over a work table, his back to Kari. His omni-tool was activated and was performing a welding program on a piece of metal James had on the table. It looked like an armour plate.

The first thing that Kari noticed was that he wasn't wearing his normal military fatigues that Kari had grown accustomed to since he had first been able to dress himself again.

He was wearing a long heavy looking coat, like a jacket, but it was made of some heavy material that looked like it was made from the same material that Alliance marines used for their underarmour. Flame retardant synthetic weave with interior kinetic barrier emitters. It was dark grey in colour, almost black in the low light. He also was wearing a set of heavily padded boots that bore attached armour plates.

Parts and materials lay strewn across the floor near the work-table, including a discarded clear respirator. It looked just like the one that James used.

The entire ensemble that he was wearing gave him an almost ghostly look, a heavily armoured ghost, maybe... but had Kari not seen the spikey blonde hair at the top of his head, she would have assumed that the man at the workstation was an intruder.

Kari approached James cautiously from behind, not wanting to startle him as she edged around to his side.

She finally got a look at his face. He indeed was no longer wearing the respirator given to him by Heurta. Instead, his face was covered up to his eyes by a thick black gas-mask that came up in a triangular point to cover all but the slightest sliver of his cheeks and his eyes.

The mask had two long tubes, one that jutted from the right intake over the cheek and ran down into a black box on over his right breast which Kari could only assume was scrubber. The other ran directly down from his chin into the metal chestplate that James had fashioned from the materials he had bought the day before.

Below the chest plate, were a series of pouches and satchels that Kari assumed were for combat supplies, but most of it was covered up by the heavy dark-grey trench coat that came down to just above his ankles.

He wore a thick dark-grey glove on his left hand that matched the material of the coat, with plastic-like grips on the interior. He was using that hand to hold up the casing of the Securitel helmet that had been working on when Kari entered his field of vision, the other glove laying discarded a short distance away.

James looked up from his work, flipping up the small visor that he had been using to shield his eyes from the bright light and sparks thrown up by the welder.

"Hey. Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked, setting the helmet down on the table.

"Couldn't sleep." She replied, though she neglected to mention why.

James chuckled, twisting the wrist of his gauntlet and setting the heavy glove with a smirk.

"You and me both." he said, turning to face her.

Kari looked up at him, still not quite comfortable with James's new look. She couldn't his face now, everything but his eyes, brow and hair was entirely covered by metal, wiring and tubes. And from the look of the materials still on the table, he still had more work to do.

A moment of awkward silence passed between them. James had hoped to finish the suit before he Kari saw him.

"So…what do you think?" he asked at last.  
Kari looked up at his eyes, there was a sort of sadness in her gaze.

"It looks great…" she said, half sincere. The suit was a very good for hand-made work, some of the best she had seen actually, but the style seemed very gritty, utilitarian and hard-lined. It seemed to drain the colour from the room and extinguish the personality of the wearer, but Kari got the feeling that is exactly what James was going for: a faceless soldier.

"Thanks." James replied, though he did notice her reluctance to give the compliment.  
He thought about saying something, but Kari looked as if she didn't want to dwell on the thought.

"So…why did you come down here?" he asked, eager to change the subject.

"I came down here to clean up the engine, see if I could get it running right again…but…" she hesitated, her voice growing small in her throat as she clasped her hands together and bowed her head.

"It looks like you didn't need me."

James frowned, he hadn't thought that Kari might feel left out when he had decided to go down to engineering. "I'm sorry… I thought I could save you some trouble…and I was awake anyway…."

Kari nodded, "It's okay." she spoke quietly. Kari looked up at him with a sad smile in her eyes. "I suppose I can always cook if nothing else."

James smiled a little, although she couldn't see his lips anymore, his eyes told her all she needed to know.

"I don't know, Miss Vereah. What if you mix in some of that dextro-food into my lunch…" he chuckled softly, he realized that it didn't hurt to laugh anymore.

"They'd have to put "killed by a dodgy looking kebab," on my tombstone. I'd be the laughing-stock of the cemetery."

Kari smiled and pushed him playfully. "You know I'd be careful."

James shook his head, "Why don't we stick to what we know you're good at."

Kari wondered if she should tell him, that she really didn't like being a engineer, that she would rather be a scientist.  
Kari grinned mischievously, she would let him wonder.

"You would be surprised at the things I'm good at." she teased.

James raised an eyebrow, "Oh?" he wasn't quite sure what to think of that.

Kari shook her head and put her index finger over her visor's voice modulator.  
"Maybe you'll find out one day." She chuckled, unaware of the double meaning she was imparting to James.

James blinked, he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. Could it really be what he hoped for…?  
Did Kari feel the same way he did…as strange as that might be?

"Wait a second…" James smiled warily, daring himself to confirm what he thought she was saying to him.

"Are you making a pass at me, Miss Vereah?"

Kari's heart almost stopped. "No! err- I m-mean that's not what I-I meant. Well, m-maybe, but I d-didn't- I wouldn't…oh no…"

Kari had said too much in her state of panic. She wanted to disappear again, to just evaporate like she had when James had yelled at her. Kari dropped her head low so James's couldn't see her eyes. Her cheeks were burning as hot as a drive manifold during a jump.

She expected him to laugh at her, or mock her for her stupidity…or even worse…tell her that he was disappointed with her lack of restraint, like her father did.

But, instead, she felt two arms wrap around her waist, and the mesh of an enviro-suit on hers. She looked up at him… there were no gibes in his eyes, no derision, no disappointment. No, there was something else, tenderness…and relief.  
His hands found hers and their fingers entwined.

"I feel the same way, Kari. I just…well, I didn't think you ever would want to be more than a friend."

"Y-you do? I-I mean-...w-why wouldn't I-...oh..."

Kari's heart fluttered a bit…she blinked her eyes several times, praying to herself not to wake up.

She didn't…

"I-I…didn't w-want to burden you..a-and I didn't t-think you c-could-…"

"Could like someone like you?" James said, finishing her sentence for her.

Kari nodded silently, her throat was going dry quickly and her palms were getting rather sweaty.

James chuckled quietly, "I thought the same thing." He admitted, drawing closer to her, nothing but the fabric of their suits between them. Kari looked up at James, the visor of her helmet nearly pressed flush to his mask as they stared into the other's eyes for a long moment.

Kari felt the tension in her muscles melt away as she stood there with him, unsure of exactly what to say next…but somehow she knew that she didn't have to say anything.

A long moment of comfortable silence passed between them, how much time went by, Kari wasn't sure.  
She wanted to stay with him, talk with him, but the darkening circles around his eyes told her of his weariness and the dawn was fast approaching. He needed sleep, but she didn't want to let him go…

Nor did James want to let go of Kari, no matter how tired he was. Adrenaline and copious amount of coffee had kept him going, but now, here in the dim light of the engineering room, he felt the weight of two long days of worry and stress collapse from his body. All because of the touch of this slight Quarian girl. A woman to which he owed his life, and more.

He could weather another few hours without rest for her….

"You should get some rest." She said at last, breaking their embrace, although she really didn't want to. "M-morning isn't far away."  
She could read him well, and he had to admit the thought of a nice soft bed right about now was very tempting.  
"I'll…talk to you tomorrow then?" he asked hesitantly.  
Kari smiled, her voice soft and soothing like a purr as she took his hands in hers.  
_"You can count on it."_

* * *

_Icy plains. Barren and still. The sky looming, but not threatening, churning. Calm. Calm before a storm. Winter stang on the cheek, and ice crunched beneath the boot._  
_Eyes. Eyes like the fires of hell. The hound stared up at him. James returned its gaze. The long shaggy coat of the animal swayed softly, as if caught by a breeze, a breath of what is to come._

_The Kingfisher warbled. Orange breasted and tufted feathers. Its wing was no longer broken, it hopped about the ground, looking up at James curiously._  
_James extended his arm inviting, and the bird chirped happily and jumped up onto the crux of his arm. It snuggled up against his bicep for solace from the cold winter air._

_James looked into its eyes. He could see a reflection, the icy plains, rolling and roiling in the little birds sapphire beads._  
_The ocean? Unmistakable. It was the ocean upon which he stood, the crested waves silent beneath the frost._  
_The bird warbled again, and the ice began to break, long cracks like snakes sped around them, circling the three, but not touching. The sea rose up from beneath rime, gasping a heavy breath of freedom as the world around James began to shift and change._

_The sky overhead darkened, and grew red…little drops of water coloured like blood began to fall. Whispers slithered into his mind, pouring into his ears. Bidding him to stop, to turn from both of them…the ice a around them broke away, settling them adrift on the sea. Oily shadows in the dark abyss below gathered around the floe._

_They motioned to James, their forms gliding just below the surface…to join them, to be one with the sea._  
_James resisted, the waters looked soft and inviting, peaceful and calm…but something wasn't right._

_The great shaggy black hound did not flinch. It stared up at James, with those burning red-orange eyes. Eyes filled with dark purpose._  
_James felt drawn towards the creature, his right hand extending carefully toward's the animal's jowls, its long yellowed incisors extended from its closed jowls like two great daggers._  
_The little bird protested, warbling a cry of anguish…but James could not stop. The dog offered something, something that he could not ignore. Something that had to be his._

_His hand touched the canine's face, and for a moment…all went silent and still._  
_Then he felt it, tubes and wires crawling up his arm like serpents, burying themselves in his skin and worming their way deep into the very core of his being. James wanted to scream, the form of the great hound began to disappear, those red eyes still staring at James as the human writhed in agony…those deep hellish eyes, until at last they too were gone. Vanished like vapor on the wind._

_James fell to his knees, in the still darkness of the churning sea._  
_He stared down at his own reflection in the ice…_  
**_And there were the red eyes._**

James awoke with a start.

The scene that greeted him was the darkness of his room aboard the Revenant. The air from his mask stunk of body odor and sweat: the smell of fear. James realized that he had been dreaming again.  
He sighed heavily, swinging his feet over the edge of his cot, his new boots hitting the floor with a hard thud.  
James rested his arms on his knees, reaching up to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

Same damned dream. He thought, standing up from his cot, stretching his muscles and popping his neck with a sharp roll of his head.  
He had been having the same dream every night now for awhile, they had started when he was at Heurta. He figured that it was his brain trying to work through the grief, the loss he had suffered. He consciously fought the feelings away, but every night he had dreamed the same dream.

Although, this time it was different. This time the scene had changed…  
He sorted through the images in his head, each more disturbing than the last.  
James shook his head vigorously, as if hoping to throw the thoughts from his mind.  
He didn't want to think about it. He shoved the images aside, dismissing them as conjurations of a troubled subconscious trying to deal with the pain and the great changes in his life.

He had lost his job, lost use of most of his lungs, met a Turian, a Asari and Quarian, befriended them all and become romantically involved with one.

All in the space of about a month.

James rubbed his temples in his palm. He hoped the next couple of weeks brought some semblance of normality, he wasn't sure he could take much more of this rapid change in his life.

Although…admittedly it did have some benefits.

James still remembered how Kari's hips felt against his bare hands, and the gentle warmth that leaked through her suit. The subtle look of tenderness and desire in her eyes…and that was just the start.

Or at least…he hoped it was just the start…Kari didn't seem like a girl to throw around her affections lightly, and James wanted to make it work so very much…

James smiled a bit, as he entered his room's shower, beginning the long process of stripping down to naught but his mask and primary scrubber box.

He wasn't sure how he was going to do it, or even when, but he was going to kiss that girl someday, even if it killed him.

Tullius and Aesha were already up when Kari awoke. They had set to work early on the Revenant, enlisting the help of Dovin Kang to get the ship running again.  
James had left his credit chit to Tullius before he went to bed along with a preliminary list of the items that they would need. Tullius had added a few things to the list, and with the help of Dovin Kang's mechs, they had brought most of the materials onboard the ship already.

Kari entered the CIC, the previously quiet halls buzzing with activity as mechs were hard at work. Dovin had graciously agreed to provide the labour for free, provided that the Revenant's crew bought over a half million credits worth of tech.

Tullius had easily gone over that limit and then some. He had tried to be a good steward of James's money, hoping to keep the price as low as he could without sacrificing quality, but the Revenant had been so badly off…

He was in the middle of pricing out a rather large and expensive cannon for the ship's main battery when he felt the tap of a suited finger on his shoulder.  
"Hey."  
Tullius turned around to see the smaller Quarian girl looking up at him with both curiosity and mild awe.  
"Hey, look who it is, sleeping beauty." Tullius grinned, "Enjoy your late night romp with James last night?"

Kari, who had been looking around the room at the various mechs snapped her head back to Tullius with a surprised gasp.

"How did you-?"

Tullius smiled and chuckled, "I was in Military Intelligence, my dear, things never happen without me noticing….that and I saw you sneak out when I went to the little Turian's room."

Kari blinked, "But how did you know I was with James?" she quiried, still not exactly sure how Tullius had seen her…she thought she would have heard someone following her last night.

Tullius smiled again, this time even wider. "I didn't. You just told me."

Kari's eyes went wide her hand flying up to cover the side of her visor closest to the Turian  
Stupid stupid…

Tullius leaned forward and whispered, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction.  
"So…did you two…?"

Kari looked up at with a shocked look.

"N-no! Keelah! We d-didn't-…"

Tullius was just eating this up, he laughed heartily

"But something _did_happen.."

_"Tully! Leave the poor girl alone! Don't make me come back there!"_

Came Aesha's voice from the cockpit. The sudden noise caused the mechs to look up from their tasks for a moment, analyzing voice patterns and coding responses.

Command not recognized, proceed with previously assigned tasks. And the mechs went back to work.

Tullius shook his head and sighed, "Damn that woman and her hearing." He mumbled.  
"Looks like you are off the hook for now,_Mrs. Irving._"

Kari covered her visor fully with her hand.

"Just tell me what you need me to do." she managed at last with slight irritation.

Tullius nodded, picking up the datapad that he had been using to requisition parts. He moved a couple of icons on the screen and pulled up the updated list he had been working from. With a quick flick of his hand and a gentle manipulation of his wrist, he sent the file to Kari's omni-tool, which lit up in a dull orange hologram as he did.

"I'd like you to wake up Mr. Sleeping Beauty and have him look over this list of parts we yet need. We might have to do a bit of pinching here, at this rate we might have to have you sit on the gun-mounts and yell 'pew pew' at any hostile ships we encounter."

Kari frowned, Tullius was joking, she knew, but still his picking on her wore a little thin at times.  
_"I have a shotgun…"_she said, both in response to his suggestion and a subtle threat.

Tullius smiled broadly, all too aware of what she meant.  
"Then we'll see that it's put to good use. Now, hurry along…true love's first kiss and all that."

Kari shoved him, playfully, but still with enough edge that he got the message.

"So violent." He grinned as she turned and walked away.  
It didn't take Kari long to get to James's room. The lifts were working again, and she took the elevator up to the captain's cabin. It had been a room that James had been unwilling to take at first, but after some arguing and a little culinary bribery from Aesha, he had agreed to set up in the cabin, though he claimed it was only temporary.

Kari approached the cabin door, and pressed the intercom button, sending a soft tone reverberating throughout the room.  
"Aye, come in." came James's voice from the other side. Kari pressed the green door release and the metal slid back to reveal the cabin.

It was a rather Spartan looking place, the walls had been cleared of any decoration and the large glass case that looked like it once held ship models lay barren. The captain's desk was tidy, but also lacking in any decorum, there were a few datapads arrayed out neatly in front of the chair, as well as a white porcelain cup that bore the N7 insignia on its side. It held a steaming warm brownish liquid that Kari remembered was called "tea".

The fragrance was rather charming, it smelled earthy and heavy.

"Cup of Earl Grey?" James asked, as he came around from behind the glass case. He had been reattaching his gauntlets to his suit.  
He nodded to the cup that Kari had been staring at.

"Oh..n-no… I-I couldn't…thank you though…" she said, looking down a bit from his eyes. She should try to be professional, during the daytime hours. After all, he still needed her to do her job properly.

"Tullius asked me to bring you the list you g-gave him…he said that…he said that…" Kari's voice trailed off, James had closed the distance between them, was right on top of her, looking down at her with a tender look.

"It can wait a few minutes…I'd rather talk about what happened last night." He said, taking the datapad from her hands and gently setting it down next to the others.

Kari's hand, free of their burden, clasped together in a nervous bundle. She hadn't really thought that much about the night before, was he having second thoughts? Did he not actually want to be with her after all?

Kari's concerns were silenced as he put his hands over hers and held them between his massive black gloves, breaking the bundle of her fingers so that he could twine his own five fingers in her three.

"I meant what I said last night…I want to try this…I want to try us…but I want it to be special. Not just some fling or one-time thing." He told her, softly and quietly, his violet eyes examining her hands in his. They seemed so small, so frail…like the wings of a little bird delicately stretched out in his grip.

Relief washed over Kari as he spoke, she had wanted him too in the same way…but she had been worried that he didn't want what she did…that he might be only interested in her as a dalliance.

"I-I want it to be special too…Keelah, I-I've wanted to be with you ever since I saw you."

James grinned fondly, "A bold claim, Miss Vereah…after all, I was in full armour when you first saw me."

Kari giggled softly, pressing in a bit closer, nuzzling her visor against the peak of his mask.

"Well…since I saw you take down that Geth Prime, at least."

James raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You saw that, did you?"

Kari gave a slight nod, untwirling her fingers from his and working her hands up his arms to his biceps. James's arms fell to her sides, grasping the snug material under her arms gently.

"Yes… I did. It was very brave…" she added with a husky gasp. Even through the suit, the sensation of his hands under her arms tickled and excited her, she wondered what it would feel like if there were no suits in the way….

James chuckled throatily, "I didn't exactly plan for it to turn out the way it did…" he admitted, thinking back to how he had felt the moments before his charge, fully expecting to die right then and there.

Kari let her finger draw back down his arms, following the lines of the material and passing over the gentle bumps of barrier emitters.  
She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his chest in a gentle hug.

"I'm glad that it didn't…" she admitted, although the words sounded a bit selfish as they left her lips. She pressed her helmet softly into the gentle curvature of his chest, finding that valley between the chestplates of his armour.

James wrapped his arms around her as well, his hands resting just above her hips, sending soft tingles of sensation skirting up her body, causing her skin to prickle and soft gasps to escape her lips.

James didn't want this moment to end, indeed…it was taking nearly all of his discipline not to take her to his bed right then and there…but this wasn't the time…and there was work to be done still.

After a long moment, James finally sighed regretfully.

"Now…what is it that Tullius wanted?" he said at last.

Kari's mind had been blissfully empty up to that point, but now the image of Tullius making her sit on the ship's gun-mount and yell at passing ships sent her into giggles.

"What's so funny?" James asked, looking down at her with a curious glance.

"Oh…just the thought of trying to yell a Geth frigate into submission." She giggled even more.

James blinked, Kari kept laughing. He figured it must me some sort of inside joke between her and Tullius. He sighed heavily in mock resignation.

"I swear, you and Tullius are going to be the end of me."


	8. Chapter 8: Crack in the Mirror

Chapter 8: A Crack in the Mirror

James went down to the CIC shortly later accompanied by Kari. He met up with Tullius and Aesha who quickly brought him up to speed on the day's events.  
With Kang's mechs they had managed to replace most of the damaged equipment up in CIC and get the ship's main power back online. The drive-core was stable, as James already knew from his work from the night before and the Anti-proton thrusters seemed to be running clean.

However, the ship's kinetic barrier emitters had taken some heavy hits and more than a few of them were burnt out. The mechs had rerouted a few of the ship's circuits to compensate, but barriers were about hovering just below forty percent. Aesha said that it was likely they would need to overhaul the entire system to get it back to peak performance.  
And there was also the issue of the ship having no weapons, the repairs needed to the ship's ablative armour and the GARDIN lasers had all been removed.  
Couple that with the cost of fuel and other necessities…the credits were drying up quick.

The four stood looking over the ship schematics in the war-room. As far as two million credits had take them, it wasn't going to be enough.

"I did some number crunching, and it looks like we are going to need about three more million credits to be combat effective." Tullius said, pointing to the figures and estimates that were floating over the conference table.

"We can still be functional with our current budget, but we're going to be combat ineffective. Either the ship's offensive or defensive capabilities are going to be sub-par."

James shook his head, placing his face in his palm.  
"Do we have enough to outfit a team?" he asked wearily.  
Tullius nodded. "That we don't have to worry about. I still have my old kit from my Spec-Ops days and it looks like you are covered." Tullius nodded to James's incomplete but still effective armor.

"Aesha we need to fly the ship, and she could do that naked." Tullius smirked, looking over at his bond-mate.  
Aesha chuckled and shook her head. "Oh no, we aren't have a repeat of Pragia, I was sore for a week after that."

"Keelah." Kari mumbled, covering her visor with her hand.

Tullius grinned slightly, but he seemed to be too focused on the task at hand to follow up on tormenting Kari

Tullius flicked his wrist again, pulling up yet another list of items they would need to outfit the ground team. It was significantly less, but the estimated total was a lot more than James would have liked.

"But we will still need weapons, clips and grenades, and a few other things."  
He said pointing to the list, the items neatly stacking themselves in order of priority.

James looked over the list, it would take almost all the credits they had left just to get him and Tullius kitted out properly, not to mention the fact that they would have to start from scratch with Kari. She had some basic shields in her enviro-suit and an old worn out shotgun, but that wasn't going to cut it.

Something was going to have to give.

James sighed heavy, reaching up to rub his eyes in irritation. Reality was bearing down on him, he was starting to miss the Alliance's funding now. Credits were never a concern to him in the N7's. All he needed to do back then was put in a requisition order.

_Maybe you should have took stock of the cost before you jumped into this, dumbass._ He thought as he dropped his hand from his face.

_Shit, now I sound like my father._

James was silent for a long time, staring at the list in front of him, as if he stared deep enough into the data lines some epiphany would jump out of the code and slap him in the face with the answer.

Tullius and Aesha exchanged glances. They were both thinking the same thing at that moment, Tullius warranted from the expression on her face.

She had never really approved of the idea of going hunting after the Geth. She had become a pacifist, or at least something to that extent. When she chose to be with Tullius, she had accepted the fact that there would always be some part of the Turian that burned for the thrill of the hunt and the warmth of camaraderie. She knew that honour and duty meant everything to Tullius, and that is why this was something he had to do. For the fallen friends on Eden Prime, and for the man that saved their lives.

And she was going to support him, no matter what the cost. Even if it meant that they might never again have a chance at a normal life…and she had a promise to keep to an old friend….

Aesha gave him a slight, meaningful nod.

Tullius cracked a grateful grin, even as he marveled at what a wonderful woman he was married to.

"Look, we've got some savings from the store we had on Eden Prime and I've still got a few contacts. Me and Aesh can get the gear we will need."

James didn't look up, he was deep in his thoughts, the offer only barely sinking into his consciousness.

"No, I can't ask you to do that. This is my ship, my problem."  
He stated flatly, although, a part of him noted the gesture, even if he didn't act on it.

Tullius clicked his mandibles,  
"You didn't ask us. We volunteered. Besides, you offered us a home after ours was destroyed. It is the least we can do, so we are doing it." He stated in earnest, clearly giving no room for negotiation with his inflection. Tullius pulled out a small credit chit from one of his pouches and with a few quick button presses, transferred the sum of all his banks accounts into the chit.

He slid the chit down the table, the chit impacting the side of James's hand and coming to a rest.

James looked up from the hologram at Tullius, their eyes meeting in a harsh stare. For a moment Kari worried that the two might draw pistols and try to shoot one another like in the old Earth films she had seen at the hospital.

"Alright…" James said at last, the tension in his muscles visibly easing, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.  
"But if you try to help me out like this again, I'm going to have to shoot you." James said, a barely perceivable mischievous wrinkle forming on his brow.

Tullius narrowed his eyes and chuckled darkly, "Understood, Captain."

James looked over at Aesha, then back to Tullius, the façade of tough indifference gone. He smiled genuinely and appreciatively.

"Thank you, both of you."

"You're welcome. It's not much, but it's all we have." Aesha murmured, with a regretful note. She wished that they could do more. That they could have enough to solve all their problems, the credits in their account were barely enough…but it was going to be enough. At least they wouldn't have to worry about equipment failures on mission.

"I'll find a way to repay you for this. I promise." James said solemnly, as he picked up the credit chit.

Tullius shook his head, "Don't worry about it, James. Let's just make sure that no one else has to suffer what Eden Prime did."

Kari felt her hand slip down her suit to the pocket where she kept the Ellis's spark plug at those words.  
She wondered if they had ever helped Tullius and Aesha. Kari had never talked to them about it, she wasn't even totally sure that they knew Kari had been staying with the Ellis's, or that the food Mrs Ellis bought from their store was for her.

_"Pay it forward." _Kari whispered, barely audible, though no one seemed to hear her.

James nodded judiciously. "We will. We will make those bastards pay for what they did, and all the lives they stole."

Tullius clenched a fist and slammed it on the table with a resounding thud.  
"Damn straight we will."

Aesha and Kari both jumped at the sound.

James could feel it, the adrenaline starting to surge, the soft sting of biotic nodules coming alive again after their long sleep. He began to pace the room.  
There was hope to be had again. James entertained the notion that perhaps maybe, just maybe they might be able to pull this off.

"We will need a crew…" he said at last…"scientists, engineers, soldiers."

Tullius nodded in agreement, "I'll see if I can dig up any potential leads."

"Good. It's going to be hard sailing if we can't scrape up at least a dozen people to keep the ship running."

"I would recommend more, for a ship this size." Aesha noted.

James nodded. She was right. The compliment of the Halcyon had been sixty-five. It would be taxing on twelve people to keep the ship going, even extremely talented people.

There was another long moment's pause as James considered this new problem, and it seemed to be the hardest of them all. They had all come to the Revenant with little expectation of getting paid. It was likely any credits earned would go towards ship maintainance or upgrades.  
But a crew, a crew would expect to get paid for their expertise.

Even if they could find people willing to do their work for free, the cost of maintaining a large compliment of staff, supplies alone would bankrupt them at this juncture.

At best they would be no-body freelance mercenaries with no rep and a poorly equipped ship. No credits, no food, no crew. It seemed like their only options were to either try to tough it out, which would mean double-shifts or triple shifts in addition to any jobs they could pick up.  
Or, join up with an established mercenary band…and work with the kind of scum that James used to crush under his bootheel when the Alliance would send them in to break up a slaver's ring or destroy a pirate base.

James felt the weight of reality sinking in on him, threatening to crush him under its weight again. Both choices seemed distasteful, yet he was going to have to do something. For him there was no turning back from this course. He would succeed, or die an ignominious death in some forgotten alleyway. The doctor had told him as much, if he didn't continue getting treatment for his wounds.

Kari looked up shyly from behind the long fringes of her hood. She had been listening carefully the entire time, a thought beginning to form in her head. She had an idea…a crazy, reckless, dangerous idea. But for their current circumstances, it was worth the risk.

"I-I have a solution…" Kari said hesitantly.

All three of them turned to her curiously. As much as they liked Kari, no one really expected her to have a solution to their problems.

Kari shifted nervously as all three sets of eyes fell on her, she bowed her head a bit, starting to feel small again under the terrible scrutiny of their gazes.

"B-but i-it's risky.…"

Keira and Thomas sat idly on the veranda outside the hospital. It was a warm day out on the Presidium, almost everyday was warm here though it seemed. Keira thought it was likely that whoever was in charge of the environmental controls kept it a nice 23 degrees throughout the year.  
Keira didn't really like it, it was nice enough, that was true, but part of what made perfect days so perfect was the rarity.

The finest things in life quickly became bland and regular when you had nothing but the best all the time. Perhaps that is why she always preferred living a little rough around the edges. It made you appreciate when the good times came along.

Keira looked up at the blue and white skybox of the Presidium, wondering what exactly a rainy day would look like on the Citadel. When she was growing up back on Earth she liked getting caught in the rain, while most everyone else would run for the cover or use their omni-tool's umbrella app to shield them from the water droplets, Keira would stand out in the downpour for as long as she could.

Of course, it would never happen on the Citadel, and she rarely got a chance to visit Earth these days. But there were times, standing on an alien world, that the sky would open up and the rain came down. It was moments like those that made her feel like a child again, standing in the open fields as the heavens cried.

A rare comfort, for those who would never see children of their own.

Keira gazed across the landscape of the Presidium pensively. She had only been half paying attention to the background noise that had been Thomas talking.

"…I figure we will get to play with them before too long…" he said, talking about some model of assault rifle no doubt, the boy was absolutely obsessed with his weapons. Keira could have smiled, he was still young, and in love with his job.

He hadn't seen the worst the galaxy had to offer, not yet. There were darker demons still in the universe than pirates or Geth…although…the things that they had fought at Eden Prime came pretty close.

Keira couldn't help but wonder if the victims had been aware of what was happening to them. She couldn't imagine the horror of having one's own mind stripped from them, only to be replaced with machinery and code. Commands that must be obeyed, with no free will what-so-ever. She sincerely hoped that the colonists had been long dead before…well…before whatever that was.

Keira made a mental note to include a few thermal grenades in her kit if they went up against the Geth again. There was no way that she was ever going to be turned into one of those husks, living or dead.

"…James got himself a rather nice one, saw it before he left for his ship." Thomas's voice pierced the veil of Keira's thoughts.

"Wait." She said, halting him in mid-sentence.  
"What did you say?" she inquired, turning her head towards Thomas who was sitting across from her on the lip of one of the Presidium's many fountains.

Thomas looked up, a curious expression on his face. Keira usually just ignored him when he talked about new toys.  
"You mean the M-55 Argus?"

Keira shook her head,  
"No…after that, the part about James having a ship."

Thomas nodded derisively, as if everyone knew about that already  
"Yeah, word is he bought the Halcyon.

"Keira narrowed her eyes. She didn't know that James had any kind of money, from what he had told her, that his family had been mostly farmers and old military.

"He bought the Halcyon? How?"  
Thomas shrugged, picking another coin out of the fountain and tried skipping it across the top of the water with a flick of his wrist. He succeeded only in a dull "thunk" as the coin hit the water and sank.

"He cashed out. Took his pension up front and cut ties. The only reason I heard about any of it is that Kendon's girlfriend works at the VA Office here on the Citadel."

Keira looked down, a her brow furrowing as she considered Thomas's words.

That's why James wasn't at the hospital when she tried to visit him yesterday, or why the nurses couldn't find his residence in the system. He must have gone down to the docks, and paid cash for the Halcyon. Yet, from what she knew that it would take a small fortune to get the ship running again.

He had never been one for taking the wise course of action over the right course, even when it got him into trouble. Eden Prime had been a testament to that, but still part of her admired the LT. Even though he was an idiot at times…but then again the same could be said of all men.

"I'm going to miss him." Thomas admitted, picking up another coin to skip, and again failing miserably. "He was a proper bastard."

Keira looked down at her feet. A thought popped into her mind, one that had been coming back regularly over these last three weeks as they waited on the Citadel for a new assignment.  
It was an idea, that she had given a lot of thought. There were certain things that she had always wanted to do, joining the military had been one of them, and so had becoming an N7 but now…well….

Perhaps it was time to take after the LT, and stray from the wise course….

Keira picked up a coin out of the fountain and flicked her wrist casually, getting a perfect triple-skip before the coin hit the wall of the fountain and flew off into the air.

Thomas looked up at her in mild amazement.  
"Where did you learn to do that?"

Keira gave the faintest of smiles. "A little something I picked up from the LT."

"You want to make _what_?" Tullius gasped, not believing the words coming out of the Kari's mouth.

Kari shrunk before the much larger Turian.

"Do you have any idea what could happen? Do you even have the _slightest_ inkling of the ramifications if something goes wrong?"

"Y-yes , B-but…" Kari began, trying to draw herself back up to her full height, but Tullius was already too far gone into his rant.

"No, linking VI together is too dangerous, Kari. What if you accidentally created an AI? "

"I-if y-you w-would-" Kari said pleadingly, trying to explain.

"No, no, no." Tullius cut her off with a disappointed scowl. "Didn't your people learn anything from the Geth?"

Kari blinked. Her choler began to rise. It was one thing to scold her, but Kari wasn't going to stand by as someone attacked her people.

Tullius paced back and forth for a moment, anger building with every step. He turned on Kari, closing the gap between them.

"Wasn't losing your homeworld enough? Or would you have us all lose our homes before your kind get it? "

Kari lashed out, shoving Tullius back with enough strength to stagger the Turian. The gesture surprised Tullius.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about my people like that, you bosh'tet." She shouted with a surprising about of venom in her voice.

"Unlike _your_ people, Quarians actually help others when they are in need, rather than letting them drift alone in the void."

Tullius stood back up to his full height. His anger was gone, replaced with rage. He was closed the distance quickly between him and Kari and looked as if he might strike her. Kari stood her ground, setting her feet in a fighting stance in case she might have to dodge or absorb a blow.

James intervened; he stepped from the sidelines and placed himself between Kari and Tullius.

"That's enough." James barked.

Tullius gave James with a venomous look, the Turian's temper was white hot, his face had tuned a dark shade of blue and his eyes were sharp as daggers.

Tullius pushed past James's arm and into his face. James turned, squaring himself to Tullius while keeping an arm held back behind him to ward off any attack Kari might try to launch.

Tullius's face was only centi-meters away from his own when he spoke, his voice low and dangerous.

"It's because of their damned creations we are even in this mess, and she wants us to risk making another one."

James narrowed his eyes, "She was just trying to help, Tullius. We aren't doing anything yet." He tried to keep his tone as neutral as possible, but James couldn't help but let a modicum of spite drift into his words.

"Besides, I don't see that we have a lot of options here…" James added, a darker part of him almost wishing that Tullius would try something.

Tullius's eyes flew wide with shock. James had suffered just as much as he and Aesha had if not more, and he was actually entertaining the idea?

"Don't tell me we are actually considering this! What's to stop it from turning on us?"

James didn't have an answer for him, he merely kept himself between Kari and Tullius and took the heat of Tullius's frustrations.

"What if the damned thing does wake up and decides it wants to be buddies with the friendly Geth instead of the mean old organics, huh?"

Tullius thumped a heavy Turian finger into James's chestplate to make his point, sending tiny ripples of pain through his body, as he hadn't fully healed yet. James felt his own temper starting to flare beyond the boundaries of his control. His veneer of patient understanding began to crack.

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be decorating some synthetic's garden on a fucking spike!"

James grimaced, out of pain, anger and sadness being at odds with someone he regarded as a friend.

"Duly noted." James said, his voice a low rumble. "You done?"

Tullius spat with disgust as he let his finger drop from James's chest.

"Yeah. I'm done." He growled as he turned his back on James and Kari.

Kari stood Jame's left, her own anger smoldering. She watched as Tullius stalked off to find some project to work on.

Kari felt the tension of her body release as Tullius departed the room. She knew what her people had done in the past, and they all had paid dearly for their ancestor's mistakes. Still, Tullius had no right to judge them, the Turians as well as the rest of the races in the galaxy had turned their back on the Quarian people in their hour of greatest need.

For Tullius to pass judgment on her kin like that, it had stirred a fire in Kari that she hadn't ever thought was there, but now…in the aftermath…she regretted her words, even if she had been justified.

Kari met Aesha's eyes, the Asari gave her a look that seemed to communicate both sympathy and an apology. Kari's felt the fire go from her as the realization of what she just did sunk in.

Kari had just insulted the Turian that had saved James's life…  
_Keelah…_

Kari stepped backwards, as if she had been struck.  
They were going to break apart now. Tullius and Aesha would leave and James would blame her for it. She was going to lose everything again…all because she couldn't keep her stupid mouth shut.

Kari felt her back it the metal bulkhead, her knees getting weak and collapsing from under her and she slid down the wall. James grabbed her arm as she slid, cushioning her descent as she came to rest on her rear.

"Hey, hey, hey." he rattled, trying to get Kari to look up at him. Her eyes turned upwards to his.  
"I'm okay." She said quietly, although she really wasn't. She had let her emotions get the better of her again, and more people were going to suffer because of her.

Aesha came over to Kari and James, kneeling down to check on her.

"I'll talk to him." She spoke quietly, reaching out a comforting hand to clasp Kari's.

Kari looked up at Aesha, but didn't speak.

James nodded appreciatively,

"Thank you."

There was a long moment's silence between the three of them, before Aesha finally spoke again.

"I'm sorry." Aesha murmured.

She stood up and left the room quietly, heading off down the corridor to go find Tullius.

Kari stared at the base of James's legs, she couldn't bear to look at him now. Even though she couldn't see his face because of her shroud, she knew that he was staring at her. She could only imagine what he felt towards her: Disappointment, shame, anger. She was just trying to help.

"Kari…" James's came softly, making Kari feel all the worse. He put his hand gently on her visor, but she turned her head away.  
"No…" she mumbled, on the verge of tears. She wished that he would yell at her: that he would tell her what an idiot she was or how that her stupidity may have cost him a friend. Why did he have to be so damned nice to her?  
She didn't deserve it. She was a failure, a coward, a emotional bosh'tet that couldn't do anything right.  
Kari heard something that she didn't expect. She heard a deep throaty noise, it was…_laughing_? James was _laughing_ at her?

She turned to look at him, and James was indeed chuckling mirthfully. His brow was still furrowed in concern, but he was _laughing_.

Kari didn't understand…was he laughing at her? Had she done something humorous or was there something on her visor that he found hysterical? Was this one of eccentricities that she had heard humans were prone towards?

"What's so funny?" she asked, tiling her head to the side.

"Oh…it's just that…hehe…it looked like you were going to..hehe…deck Tullius there for a second…and the look on his face…haha..when you…shoved him….priceless."

James was laughing too hard to speak, even though it was rather painful to do so, he just cackled away.

Kari thought back to the incident, Tullius had given Kari a rather interesting stare when she had lashed out at him: a look of surprise and indignation and having been so thoroughly man-handled by a Quarian girl.

Kari had to admit it was pretty funny…a little giggle escaped her own lips, even though it sounded sort of like a half-sob. James chuckled even harder…laughter was infectious and pretty soon both of them were guffawing away like kids.

In that moment, it felt like all their troubles melted away into a sea of mirth. Humans were strange creatures at times, Kari admitted, but she was really starting to like them.

Or at least…one of them.

* * *

Kari and James decided to spend the rest of that afternoon in the wards. Tullius and Aesha had emerged from their room an hour or so late and continued their work on the ship, but an awkward silence had hung between all four of them.

So James had decided to go back to Rodam Expeditions and get a few things that they needed on their equipment list. Of course, he could have just always ordered the weapons they needed through the extranet, but James wanted an excuse to get off the ship for awhile.

He asked Kari to come with him so that she could pick something out she liked, but he also wanted to give her the opportunity to escape. She gladly took it and together they took the lift up to Zakera Ward. James felt bad about leaving the others behind to do the repairs, but suspected it would be better all around if everyone got some time to cool off.

As they walked, James noticed that they were getting a lot of stares directed in their attention. James was still wearing his suit, minus the helmet and the goggles which were still incomplete, but he still cut an imposing figure with his long grey coat and sinister looking gas-mask that he had repurposed into a respirator. Even now, the quiet hiss of the scrubber releasing a high concentration of oxygen into the tubes that ran from his chest was still audible, just below the soft ambient murmur of mixing voices and the heavy footfalls of his boots on the metal.

He suspected he looked quite odd walking next to a much smaller Quarian whose own enviro-suit was more akin to a work of art. Kari had seemingly gotten used to him wearing the patchwork suit that he had put together, indeed it seemed that she didn't even notice it anymore. She walked close to him, even reading out to take his hand in hers from time to time.

James didn't mind. It felt a little weird at first, since he wasn't quite sure what the particulars of Quarian courtship entailed, but Kari seemed to be comfortable enough with him.  
It was a strange thing, James thought. That he could feel affection for another species. In his father's youth they hadn't even know there were any other species in the galaxy.

They started to suspect as much when they found the archives on Mars, but it wasn't until the First Contact War that they had know for certain.  
Three decades later… Gavin's son was holding hands with a Quarian.  
James sighed under his breath. He wondered what his father would say if he could see him now…if he was still alive that is.

As sad as it was to admit it, James hadn't spoke with his father since that day some eight years ago. He had been a boy then, barely able to call himself a man when he told his father the news. They hadn't seen each other since. He had heard rumors that his father had retired to farm on the outskirts of Nottingham, but he James never went to see if it was true.

Ever since his mother died…he had his father had been distant. It was really no surprise that things turned out the way they did, although James wondered if his father ever thought about him anymore. If he even knew if James was alive or not….  
Before Eden Prime, James really hadn't thought about it that much, he simply assumed that his father would be informed of his death by the Alliance…but now that James was out, and had cut ties….

It bothered him to think about it, his mind was wandering far and wind these days, digging up old wounds that he had long since buried and reopening the new ones that he was trying to keep sown up.

As if by providence, or happy chance, Kari chose that particular moment to snuggle up against him. The pace of their walk slowed a bit as she did, but James was happy for the comfort. Even the toughest soldiers needed to feel like they were loved by someone, even if it wasn't true. So much of James's life had been chasing down things that other people wanted or needed. It was nice to have something that no one else was spurring him towards.  
The thought occurred to James that, at best, this would be a passing thing. No matter how one cut it, James and Kari were doomed to be separated. Whether by differences, or the barrel of a gun, or the slow decay of time, they would be parted.

They would live on as nothing more than a memory to those they knew, until they too joined them in the dust. No one escaped the Reaper. No one escaped time.  
James would die, and so would she. Together or apart, it didn't matter in the end, everyone faced death alone.  
The thought haunted James, her felt his grip around Kari tightening also imperceptibly.

Why his mind chose to torment him like this, he didn't know, but James forced such dark thoughts from his mind, burying them in his subconscious.

Every moment was precious, and James wasn't going to let despair take one more minute from him.

"What about this one?" James asked as he pointed to one of the sniper rifles under the case. It was the M-97 Viper, a rather geometric, but lovely looking weapon with a six shot capacity per clip and a medium powered scope. Kari had to admit, the weapon was nice. It reminded her of the one that her cousin Tari used in the Migrant Fleet Marines. Although, Tari's rifle was a lot older and well worn than this one was, even the display case model looked brand new to Kari.

But then again, any tech that was less than a century old was "new" to Quarian.  
Kari shook her head politely. It was a nice model, but Kari wasn't all that into sniper rifles. James had been trying to peak her interest in one since they arrived, even passing over a couple of assault rifle models that he really liked to show her more long range weapons.

It was kind of sweet really, Kari thought. She could see the motivation behind it, James didn't want her in the fray. He wanted her far off, in the back, providing sniper support for him and Tullius.

And while Kari had never been much of a soldier, she did like her shotguns. He father had trained her in a wide array of weapons when she was young, barely old enough to hold a weapon when she fired her first pistol. But Kari had only ever been interested in shotguns.

James tried to pull her away from the close-range weapons case again, pointing out another rifle. The M-98 Widow, it looked exactly like the model Tari used, but slightly newer.

Kari shook her head again.  
"I don't want a rifle." She finally admitted.  
James raised an eyebrow as he looked up at her.  
"Why not? There's some great models here. Look they even have one with an auto-targeting VI" he said, pointing to a very expensive, very high-tech Mantis.

"Are you saying I have bad aim?" Kari said with mock indignation.

James raised his hands defensively. "Oh, I didn't mean that. I just thought if you needed some extra help-…"

Kari shoved him playfully. "You think I'm a bad shot! You bosh'tet!" she giggled.

"I'll have you know, I placed silver for five years running in the youth shooting competitions on the Vanya." She said raising her head up in a look of mock derision.

"Only silver?" James aid, an wiry grin spreading across his lips.

"I would have thought the daughter of the great and powerful captain of Vanya would place gold or better."

Kari raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms.  
"Oh? Is that so?"

James nodded, "I would have expected the tall and beautiful Kari'Vereah vas Vanya to be the best shot in the Migrant Fleet…no…the galaxy!"

Kari laughed, "You expect too much, James Irving." She said, uncrossing her arms.

"And besides, you haven't seen my face…how would you know if I'm pretty?" she quipped. Her tone was playful, but James sensed that it was a legitimate question.

James smiled, "I wasn't talking about only your looks…." He inflected sagely.

Kari bowed her head a little, her cheeks turning a bit red beneath her visor.  
James took this opportunity, to wrap his arms around the smaller Quarian's hips in a gentle hug.

"Thank you…" she gave him a soft squeeze.  
"Just speaking the truth." He murmured mirthfully.  
"Now, I believe you were wanting a shotgun, hmmm?"

Kari looked up at him with a little smile, "Oh…however did you know?" she asked feigning innocence.

James shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh. I picked up a few subtle hints. Everytime you walked past the display I thought I heard you cry, _'I want one!'_"

"I said no such thing!" Kari giggled, giving him a soft ribbing.

James shook his head and chuckled, "No, but your eyes did."

Kari smiled. She wondered if he had been watching her eyes as much as she had been watching his since they first met. From the way that he was looking at her now, she was thinking…probably yes and that made her smile all the more.

"So did you see one you liked?"

Kari shook her head. It was a half truth. While there had been many models she would have really liked to get her hands on, they were far too expensive, and there were far too many to choose from. Kari was used to having little choice in life, and therefore she always had a hard time deciding on matters that had more than two answers.

So it was easier to say "No, nothing I really wanted…but thank you for bringing me."  
"My pleasure." he stated, with a slightly over-dramatic bow of his head.

"So did you want to go for some ice cream while we are here?" he asked with a little chuckle, already knowing the answer.

"Oh yes please! I want to try out that dark stuff this time…what did you call it?"

James grinned, it was easy to forget that things that he had grown up with were entirely new experiences to her.

"Chocolate."

Kari nodded vehemently. "Yes, that's it! _Chocolate_."  
Kari tugged on his arm. "Com'n let's go, before the evening meal rush hits!"

"Alright. Alright! You don't have to twist my arm off, girl!"

Kari giggled mischievously. "What do you mean, _your_ arm? It's _mine_ now." She snuggled her head up against it as if to lay claim to it.

"Okay, may I keep it attached to my body please? Humans don't regrow limbs you know…." James bantered back, smiling down at the Quarian nestled against his deltoid.

"Well since you asked so nicely…" Kari wrapped her arm around his and put her palm in his.

James grasped her hand gently, giving it a soft squeeze.  
"Com'n. I don't want to stay between a Quarian and her ice cream."

"Ow." Kari muttered as she released the straw, putting her hand to the side of her helmet where James extimated her temples would be.

"Brainfreeze again? I warned you to slow down." James smirked, planting the spoon of his own vanilla into his mouth. His mask hung on the side of his face rather idly, he had unclasped it from the suit's mount on the right side, allowing him to work a utensil past the metal and deliver the cold treat into his mouth.

It was a rather awkward way to do it, and James had to pause from time to time to catch his breath, but it wasn't a wholly unsatisfying experience. He pitied Kari for not being able to do the same. Everything she ate was through a straw or a tube.

Kair held her hands in her head for a moment, before leaning down again to suck on her straw, with much the same result. She had almost downed half the serving of ice cream in the time it had taken James to eat just a few spoonfuls of his

"Here, if you're going to inhale it, do it right. Put the tube on the tip your tongue, gives it time to warm up a bit."

Kari tried his suggestion. The result was much more satisfying.

"Thanks!" she beamed and sucked harder, making the dextro-amino chocolate ice cream disappear almost instantly.  
Kari sucked the bottom of the bowl the best she could, before turning to him and looking down at his ice cream.

"You going to eat that?" she asked teasingly.

James blinked a few times and then broke out in a grin. "I don't think it would agree with you."  
Kari shrugged and giggled. "You're right, it would probably give me a tummy-ache. I'll just go get some more from the stand."

James laughed, "You keep eating ice cream at that rate and I can guarantee it."

Kari gave him a playful shove before picking up her bowl and wandering back off to the icecream stand where the old Turian was already breaking out the scoops in anticipation of her arrival.

James shook his head and spooned in another mouthful. The cold felt good against his damaged vocal cords. They no longer hurt as much as they used to, but the pitch of his voice remained a deep gravelly bass, not at all the Lanky accent he grew up with. James suspected that they would likely be like that for the rest of his life.

It was just one of the many things that he never really appreciated before, a part of him that he always thought would be there. And now…well now, it was gone with a lot of other things that had once been his.  
Yet, he didn't feel as mad or sad about it as he thought he should, there was a kind of grim acceptance that came with time, a healing of the soul as well as of the body.

James turned his gaze towards the other patrons there on the Citadel. There were quiet a few people here, it was evening on the Presidium, and many people had come to the cafes to get their meals or after work drinks and enjoy the view. The Citadel skybox's program put on a rather lovely show that simulated the setting of a star on a planet. Ever night, it was a different scene. Tonight, the program was simulating Sol's setting, over the bay of San Francisco harbor on Earth.  
James had never been there, but it was good the Sun again, even if it was merely a simulation.

James thought back to the last time he had seen a sunset. It was shortly before his first posting, after he had gotten out of OTC. He had walked along the beaches of Normandy, France: the site of a great battle, two centuries before he was even born. The nations of the world had banded together to defeat tyranny and injustice, and on those now quiet shores, had they taken their first steps towards the road that would lead to victory.

The beach had been left bare, a silent testimony to those who had given their lives so that others might know peace and freedom. He walked alone that day, between the shoals and the sea, the soft waves of the ocean lapping up around his knees.

That had been the last time he had seen Earth. He felt that perhaps, that one day soon, his path would lead him back there to walk those redolent sands again... But this time, he wouldn't be alone.

James was about to turn to look for Kari, when he noticed something that caught his eye.  
It was a familiar silhouette, a profile he had seen time and time again on the vids in the recent weeks:  
A rugged and well cut figure with a kind face wearing plain Alliance military fatigues with shirts rolled up to the biceps. It was like a picture from the past, rushing up from its frame to meet his gaze.

James's voice found his lips, with both surprise and disbelief as he uttered the name:

_"Shepard?"_

* * *

_James could hardly believe his eyes. Lt. Shepard, the man that had led them to victory on Elysium during the Blitz was sitting not ten meters away at a table behind him.  
He was a celebrity now, first human Spectre and hero of the battle of Eden Prime. James wondered if he should say something to the Commander, if it would be appropriate.  
After all, he probably got a lot of fan worship these days, surely he did not need yet another distraction on what probably was a very short shore leave before heading off to do whatever Spectres did._

James looked at the fellows at Shepard's table. It was a rather eclectic assortment of individuals. A turian, a krogan, an asari. It surprised him that Shepard knew so many aliens, he always thought that Spectres were supposed to be solo operatives, relying on no one but themselves and answerable only to the council. It any case, it seemed that whatever the group was speaking about was evidentally bad news.

They were rather far away, but James thought he heard the word "conduit" mentioned and something about a "Saren." Whoever that was.

James was about to move in closer to see if he could hear more, perhaps offer his aid if he could. James wasn't exactly in the best of straights at the moment, but the prosper of working with the galaxy's elite did have a certain appeal to him, especially if they were going after those who had attacked Eden Prime.

However, a thought occurred to James even as he was about to stand. How would the famous Commander Shepard react to James? Sure they had once been in a battle together, but they had gone their separate ways.  
They hadn't even really talked on Elysium, more than a short introduction and a few orders. Now that he was out, he wondered how anyone who didn't know him personally would view him.  
Many soldiers that served in the Alliance had gotten out to go into the private sector, selling their gun and skills to the highest bidder. Most soldiers regarded mercs with disdain and hatred, a feeling James had once shared.

Now that he had been more or less forced to become a mercenary, James wondered how the paragon of the humanity would regard him? Although James already knew the answer: Shepard didn't know him, he would likely regard James with that same contempt.

James was lost in his thoughts when at that particular moment he felt a soft metal jab in his shoulder. James jerked in his seat, wheeling around instinctively to face his attacker. It was Kari, she was holding the spoon in her hand which she poked him with.

"Hah. Got you." She quipped mirthfully.

James relaxed one he saw it was Kari and even managed a slight grin. She had brought him another bowl of ice-cream.  
James had his fill of the stuff, plus seeing Shepard again and what he represented had chased away his appetite, he thanked her nevertheless, though his gaze wandered from her visor and fixed on the table.

The smile in Kari's eyes faded a bit, she noticed that James seemed distant.

"Something wrong?" she asked after a long moment.

James shook his head, looking back to her apologetically.

"It's nothing. Just an old CO of mine."

Kari looked around James, catching just the slightest edge of the human's face that James had been looking at. She had seen him somewhere before, but she just couldn't remember where.

"Did you want to go talk to him?" Kari inquired, but James shook his head slowly.

"Nah. I don't want to bother him."

Kari saw the look on James's face. It was something more than that. She couldn't be sure, but it almost looked like shame in his eyes.

Kari didn't like it, what did he have to be ashamed of? Was it her? Did he not want an old comrade of his seeing him  
with a Quarian girl? Or had James done something to warrant not wanting to talk to him.

In her experience amoung her own people, reunions with old comrades was something to be cherished. Kari would have thought that James would jump at the chance to reminisce, but she decided not to ask.

She didn't want to pry into his past, and she certainly didn't want to know if his relationship with her was the source of his reluctance.

Several long minutes of awkward silence passed between them as James picked at his ice-cream, taking small bites out of it, but not really making a dent in the slowly melting mound.  
Kari stopped sucking on her straw.

"Want to go?" she asked, hoping to break through whatever haze was clouding James's mind. James looked up, as if noticing her sitting there for the first time. He blinked a few times and shook his head as if to throw unwanted thoughts from his mind.

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

The walk back to the ship was a rather long one. Neither of them was really ready to face Tullius and Aesha again, but James knew that sooner or later that another confrontation was inevitable.

So they made their way through the shops on Zakera ward, stopping from time to time to check out various materials and items from time to time while Kari told him more about her people.

Evidentally, the largest open space on every ship housed a market where the Quarian people deposited things they didn't need or weren't using. Anyone could leave things behind, and anyone could pick them up.

There was no hoarding on the Flotilla, the Quarians simply didn't have room to keep things that weren't activate being used and even Quarian had been raised to share what they had.

Necessity had breed a culture of self-sacrifice and nobility which James couldn't help marvel at. Kari kept insisting that it wasn't perfect, and there were a few individuals that put themselves before the needs of the fleet, but such individuals were regarded with disdain and usually ended up leaving the Flotilla on their own.

James wondered if humanity would fare so well, if put in the same situation. No world to call their own, floating from place to place looking for the means just to survive. Would his own kind band together as the Quarians had? Or would they fall apart, slaughtering each other over the last scraps of their civilization and resources.

James prayed that it would never come to that. He hadn't seen Earth much in his life, but to never be able to go back….it was a thought that chilled him to the bone.

He could understand now why Kari would speak of Rannoch so reverently. It was little more than a myth to her, a promised land that all her people hoped one day to return to.

James wasn't sure it could be done… but he still held on to the hope that she would live to see that day…and maybe he would see it with her.

"Oh…can we stop here?" Kari said, interrupting herself in mid-sentence about the political workings of the Migrant Fleet. The store that Kari wanted to go into had a rather grimy looking front with a hastily constructed sign that simply said _**"Junk" **__in a very unimpressive looking scrawl._

In fact, this entire district of Zakera ward that they had wandered into looked rather seedy.

James raised his eyebrow slightly. "Why would you want to go in there?" he asked.  
Kari gave him an impish grin, "You wouldn't believe it, but this place has some great deals on tech. I thought we might be able to use some for the ship."

James raised his eyebrow even higher, looking down the street at a homeless man that was wearing his knickers outside of his pants.  
"And exactly when did you come down here looking for tech?"

Kari chuckled.  
"A few weeks ago, when you were sleeping."

James turned to look at the hobo again, who was urinating in the middle of the alleyway with a stupid looking grin on his face. He noticed James's gaze and gave a wobbly wave.  
He was obviously intoxicated.

James returned the wave politely, but with a slightly disgusted look on his face.  
"Charming." James muttered.

Kari grinned up at James and giggled.  
"You should have seen what he was doing last time I was here."

"Oh god, please don't tell me."

Kari giggled even harder, taking him by the arm.

"Come on. I'll introduce you to Marah."  
James blinked.

"Marah? Who's Marah?"

"Oh…just a friend. Don't worry, I'm sure you two will get along great." Kari smiled as she lead him inside.

James stared into the large yellow reptilian eyes. They blinked scornfully.  
"See something you like, human, or are you just stupid?" the Krogan sneered.

"I-uh-"

"You what? Vorcha got your tongue?" the Krogan jabbed as she put down the motherboard she was working on and gave James a stare that seemed to bore into his skin.

"Be nice, Marah." Kari scolded, slightly amused by James's reaction to seeing Kari's hitherto unknown, large Krogan female friend minding the counter of the small junk shop.

"Fine…but you better tell him to stop staring at my plates or I'll introduce him to my Graal."

"Marah…" Kari said, a little bit sterner this time, giving the Krogan woman a subtle nod to Kari's arms wrapped around James's bicep.

The Krogan woman sighed heavily in resignation. She put down the motherboard and made her way from behind the counter to less than a meter away from James and Kari.

As tall as he was, the Krogan still beat him by a few centimeters on height and more than that on width and muscle mass. James didn't really have an eye for Krogan dimensions, but he suspected that the female that stood before him was likely larger than her peers. He could have easily mistaken her for a male Krogan, if not for her voice.

"Hmmm. Not bad." Marah snorted derisively, looking up and down James's body.

"Not as scawny and puny as the rest of his kind…" She mumbled, a taunting inflection in her tone as she spoke.

"…but still, leaves much to be desired."

Marah lowered her face to his level only a centimeter or so from his staring into his eyes with a hard menacing glare.

James stared back at her with a furrowed brow, his jaw set and his stance widened. He wasn't sure what she was playing at, but he didn't take kindly to her tone. If she was itching for a fight, then James would oblige.

"Impressive, Kari… can it do tricks too?…or did you only teach it how to talk."

A tense moment passed between them. James readied himself. He had been taught the basics of how to defeat a Krogan in hand-to-hand combat, but never actually had put it into practice. There was one simple rule to fighting a Krogan in close quarters: don't.

But, since it looked like he wasn't going to have a choice, then it was going to be the usual: biotic hand-slam with a quick follow-up throw, and hopefully the chance to get the hell out of dodge.

But, to his surprise, Marah didn't attack. She just stood there, her aggressive stance giving way to a mirthful howl of cackling. She slapped James hard on the shoulder with a stubby three fingered hand and gave him a good shake, sending little waves of pain through his not-fully-healed chest. James gave a slight grimace.

"I like this one, Kari. He has a quad on him."

James heard an audible sigh of relief from Kari, she had been holding her breath.

"I can see now why you wanted to mate with him." Marah chuckled gruffly, making Kari's cheeks go bright red.

"Marah!" Kari sputtered.

It was James's turn to laugh, looking down at Kari who had bowed her head to avoid James's gaze.

Marah chortled, looking up at James for the first time with what passed for a Krogan smile.  
"So, I assume you're James Ear-wing."

"Ir-ving." James corrected, not sure whether to be insulted or amused by the mistake.

Marah tossed her hand up dismissively, "Bah. Never had an ear for human names."  
The krogan woman reached forward her stubby hand. James took it and gave it a firm squeeze, although it felt like she was about to snap his hand in half.

"Ravanor Marah. I own this shop." She said, releasing his hand from her jaw-like grip.

"Or at least what's left of it." She added, the smile disappearing from her face as she indicated the mostly bare walls and broken down pieces of tech that she sold.

From the looks of the displays and the empty shelf space, there had once been quite a lot of stuff here. The closer labels that he read indicated that Marah had sold weapons, tech, biotic amps and starship parts, some of them relatively new models as well.  
Although, everything that looked to be of value was conspicuously absent. The stuff that was left was ancient. It looked like it could have dated back to the Krogan Rebellions or even further.

"If you wanted something better, I'm afraid you're a bit too late" grunted Marah noting James's gaze.

"What happened?" Kari asked, noticing the now conspicuously empty shelves for the first time.  
"You used to have a lot more than this."

Marah shook her head despondently, "Cleaned out. Some Turian paid me to work on his ship's engine, but when I got to dock, there was no ship."

"He stole from you?" Kari asked in disbelief.

"They." Marah corrected with a spiteful growl. "I was only gone twenty minutes. Twenty minutes…and they got everything, even the safe. Whoever he was, he had friends…and they took it all."

"Did you file a report with C-Sec?" James asked, although he knew that in most cases that was a futile effort, on a space station as large as the Citadel, trying to find stolen items was like trying to look for a needle in a needle stack.

"Didn't bother. C-Sec is nothing but a bunch of damned Turians and Salarians…less than useless." Marah stated gruffly, turning her back to them and stalking towards the counter sullenly.

"Sorry, Kari, but I'm afraid that whatever you need, I can't help you with. You'll have to go to another shop." she stated, matter-of-factually, her tone belying her infelicity. She sat down in a chair behind the desk went back to work, soldering circuits with her omni-tool.

James and Kari looked at each other for a moment, there was a question in Kari's eyes, the question that James already knew was coming and in all honesty, he was going to ask himself if Kari didn't.

He gave Kari a nod of approval.

"Marah…?" Kari said, turning to her krogan friend, the large muscle bound female looking up at the Quarian with an inquisitive and impatient frown.

"We've got a ship, why don't you come work for us?" she asked, rather timidly, her hands bundled up into a little ball.

Marah stood up slowly. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes seemed to regard Kari with a certain…gratitude.  
There was a long silence between them. Marah studied them both intensely before she nodded, a wiry grin returning to her lips.

"Eh…I was getting tired of this shit-hole anyways. I'm in."


	9. Chapter 9: Calm

Chapter 9:Calm

James and Kari made their way back to the Revenant. Marah had excused herself from their company, stating that there was some business that she needed to take care of, some things that needed to be put in order, before she joined them on the ship.

James's wasn't really sure bringing a Krogan onboard the Revenant was really a good idea, but Kari told him that Marah was very knowledgeable about engineering, she even commented that Marah might make a better Quarian that she, if she had been born on the Flotilla.

James gathered that she had talked shop quite a lot during those long hours where James was asleep, recovering from his near fatal wounds. He was glad that Kari had made a friend, even if he wasn't really sure about Marah yet. He had heard the stories about Krogan tempers and their distrust of most other species, especially the Turians and Salarians.

Most all the Krogan he had ever seen, and at a distance, were male. It was very strange to see a female Krogan outside the DMZ. James had been told that it was because of the genophage, most Krogan women stayed on their planets, trying to birth and raise their young, the very few that they could produce.

James was sure Marah had her reasons, and he could probably guess what they were, but he decided it was best not to ask. He was in enough pain as it was, without provoking a Krogan.

James reached his had to his back to scratch at an itchy spot where the doctors had grafted skin cloned from his own epidermis. The grafts that the doctors had given him had taken rather well, and were starting to mesh with the native skin on his back that had been undamaged by the Geth Plasma shotgun. Despite his progress, he the skin on his back still felt itchy and dry from time to time, and he still felt the aching throbs from his mending chest cavity.

Luckily the painkillers that Huerta had issued him took care of the sharpest pains, but he had slowed his consumption of them considerably. With no medical coverage, he couldn't afford to buy more pills, so he had done his best to make them last, only taking a dose when the pain debilitating.

It wasn't the first time something like this happened. Three years ago on an op in the Traverse on a virgin world called Virmire, James was doing some solo recon on a mountain range, looking for a Batarian slaver base when he took a rifle shot to the leg, shattering his femur.

He bandaged his leg up the best he could and applied enough medi-gel to ward off infection, but it took three days before he was rescued. During that time he had to fight off several Batarian squads, and some local crab-like scavengers, all while in intense pain. He had to ration his meds then too, but at least back then he knew that help would come, and the action provided him an ample supply of adrenaline as well which numbed the pain in its own right.

Now, he was on his own. There was no help coming, the only one he could really rely on was himself. Sure, he had friends in Kari, Tullius, and Aesha, but their loyalty to him was largely untried. They had helped him, gone far beyond what James had expected, but they were still unknowns.

Times were bad now, but when things are at their worst, that's when your real friends step up.  
It was a lesson that his father had taught him, a phrase that he had repeated over and over throughout his childhood. It seemed cynical to James as a child, he tended always to believe the best about people, to think everyone would do what was right, not just what was convenient.

But, as James had matured, he saw that his father had been right. And while most people would be kind enough to you, when the shit hit the fan, you were lucky to have even one of your friends still standing at your side.

It wasn't something that really bothered James though, he knew that in the end, most people were going to look out for their best interests. It was human nature, and because of that, he had never let anyone get really close to him.

Sure he had colleges, comrades, even the odd girl he taken on dates, but never anyone he had really let down his walls for. Letting someone in was a risk he couldn't afford at time, there was always something else that required his attention, he didn't have time for distractions or emotional entanglements with others of his race.

Then again, he wasn't dealing with just humans anymore either… and with Kari he had let slip more than a few details about his personal life, as well as the fiasco that was their first encounter.

He regretted that he had lost his cool like that, especially at her. Kari had saved his life, and while there wasn't much of a life left for him, at least there still was tomorrow and the hope that it would bring something better.

It was a lot to think about. James wondered if he should be more trusting.  
After all, would it be wrong to depend on others?  
Maybe not… but in light of recent events, it would be better to keep both his walls and biotic barriers up.

Kari snuggled into his arm as they walked, each step taking them closer to the ship. James had noticed their pace had slowed significantly. They had been both lost in thought, although he suspected that Kari's mind was on him.  
Which brought even more troubling questions to James's mind.

_What the hell are you doing, Irving?_

You've been down this road before, you're leading this poor girl on, messing with her emotions for what? A little comfort for yourself? Something to ease a guilty conscience? Do you really care for her…or are you just using her for your own gratification?

A voice in his mind scolded him, bringing into sharp relief the argument he had been having with himself before about building walls.

_"I just want to see where it goes. She feels the same way, don't we both deserve a chance at finding something special?"  
_  
_She does. You don't. You're a washed out soldier, James. A dried up piece of jerky tossed to the dogs. You're no good for her. You tried civilian life and failed: all you are good for is fighting, killing and dying for a cause. What happens if she falls in love with you and you get your dumb-ass killed on some God-forsaken rock? It'll tear her apart..._

James frowned at that last bit. It cut him to the quick, James didn't want to hurt Kari, but he wanted to be with her as well. He cursed inwardly, it felt like he was about to lose another argument with himself. James was about to retort about how much he cared for Kari, but his words felt hollow even before he could think them. Had he not just decided it was better to rely on oneself? Would it not make it him a liar and a hypocrite if he suddenly changed his mind just because he wanted to be with Kari?

The darker voice in his mind saw his hesitation and pressed its attack.

_And what will you leave behind? You aren't fighting for a flag anymore James, you are merc, plain and simple. Sure you might be doing it for noble reasons, but you're a sellsword none-the-less. If you die now, you will leave nothing but pain and misery behind you. You are better off alone, for her sake if nothing else.  
_

James slowed his pace. As much as he hated to admit it, he was right. What had he been thinking last night? He should have never said anything to Kari, never lead her on. She deserved to find happiness with someone, one of her own kind: a civilian, like an engineer or a doctor, someone that would come home every night…someone that could give her children.

James could never give her any of that. He was a soldier, that was all he ever wanted to be, that was all he was ever going to be.

Kari looked up at James curiously, they had almost come to a standstill in the docking bay. The ship wasn't far away, he could see it through the bay windows.  
It was still wearing the Alliance blue and white colours over most of the stern, but the hull where the ship's name had been replaced with new black armour plates that extended from the bow of the ship down half the fuselage. Painted across the exterior surface in brilliant crimson was the word _Revenant_.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Kari murmured softly as she drew herself closer to James. Kari could sense that there was something bothering James, but she didn't presume to ask. Instead, she wrapped arm around James's and took her hand in his, hoping that the gesture would give him some sort of comfort.

Kari had never really close with anyone on the Flotilla. She had never held hands with someone, or kissed or anything else really, she hadn't even hugged anyone in years. Now that she was with James….well... she was eager to partake in such little gestures that she had been deprived of, whether appropriate or not, showing her affection for James made her happy.

James looked up at the ship, as if noticing it for the first time. His gaze was distant, and pensive. It looked more than a little sad as well. Kari didn't like it. She wanted him to be happy. After all, they were fixing up his old ship, and soon they would all fly away together to have some crazy adventures like the ones the elders told them when they were kids.

"Yeah…she sure is." James mumbled, a heavy regretful sigh.

Kari couldn't quite piece it together, but there was something definitely wrong with James. He looked miserable, almost as bad as when they had first met. There was a deepening pain in his eyes that worried Kari, she couldn't keep her silence any longer.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, turning to face him, her hand reaching up to gently touch his face. He leaned into her palm closing his eyes as he did. It was an unexpected response, one that Kari would have thought would make him feel better, but the look of misery on his face only tightened.

He opened his eyes and looked down at her. Kari thought for a moment that time had stopped.

"Kari…I-" he began but was cut off by a loud shout.

_"Hey, Captain Bastard! Where the hell have you been all day?"_

Kari and James both looked up, shocked and surprised to see Tullius bearing down on them with a wide smile on his face, he had obviously been out looking for more materials for the ship by the look of the small convoy of mechs and materials following him.

"Off gallivanting again? Seeing the sights? Well, I hope you enjoyed yourself because _some_ of us have been hard at work, slaving away on _your_ ship." Tullius chuckled as he slapped them both on the back, rubbing the stinging sensation in with a heavy Turian hand.

The message was clear, he hadn't forgotten about their feud earlier, but he was willing to let things slide. Both of them grimaced mildly at the sensation, but they were still somewhat dumbfounded by the Turian's lack of open hostility towards either of them. Turian's weren't really known for passive-aggressive behaviors.

James edged around the Turian to get a glimpse of what Tullius had purchased since they had been gone. There was another freightload of black armour panels on pallets that Kang's mechs were pushing into the Revenant's docking bay as well as assorted weapons, medical supplies and what looked like a massive cannon of Turian make designed for frigates.

"Do you like what I did with the ship?" he said, pointing up to the new panels and the fresh crimson scrawl on the hull.

"I thought that blue and white didn't really fit the ship's personality these days, so I had Kang requisition something more…appropriate."

James looked at Kari for a moment, she still looked at him with a worried stare, but his words would have to wait for another time.

James looked back up at the Revenant and gave an approving nod. James really did think that the ship looked better now, as she was taking on a new personality of her own but at this particular moment he would have said that a fluffy pink unicorn painted on the ship's hull looked cool if it would get Tullius's hand off his aching back.

"I like it. Sleek. Deadly. If nothing else, at least we will look scary." James noted, trying to keep his voice as even and professional as possible despite the fact that he was feeling rather miserable.

"Great! I knew you'd like it!" Tullius grinned as he removed his hand with a chuckle.

"Now, I do need to ask you about this one thing though…" he said, placing his hand on James's shoulder.

"Do you mind if I steal James for a bit, Kari?" Tullius asked, turning to Kari with an almost too-friendly smile

Kari did mind, very much indeed, but she got the feeling that Tullius wasn't going to take no for an answer, and she did want to smooth things over a bit. She nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, I'll be down in engineering if you need me." She mumbled.

"Excellent! Thank you very much, Miss Vereah."

Tullius grinned and pulled James away, leading him towards the main battery while he outlined his plan and discussed methods of how to maximize their offensive power with the credits they had. But Tullius had already figured it all out long before Kari and James came back, that hadn't been his reason for pulling James aside.

Tullius smirked inwardly,

_James, you owe me big. I just saved you from the worst decision of your life._

* * *

_Tullius kept James busy for the rest of that day, and the day after that as well. There was much to do, this was certainly true, but James got the feeling that Tullius was piling on to keep him busy. James didn't mind, time spent working was less time his mind had to wander into more unpleasant subjects in his brain. Yet, even as busy as Tullius kept him, he couldn't help but think about Kari from time to time, wondering if he was doing the right thing._

Would it be better to break it off with her and hope she could deal with the rejection? She didn't really seem like she had gotten on very well with her own people, she seemed to be very meek. Would ending it with Kari compound her self confidence issues?

Or was it better to end it now, get it over with before things went too far? Sure it would hurt, but Kari had some strength about her. It was very subtle, like the ebbs and flows of the ocean. It looked deceptively calm, but there was a powerful force beneath, waiting to be unleashed.

And then there was the matter of how he felt. What did he want? He had held up his walls for so long, ever since his mother died, no one had really gotten in, no one had gotten close to him.

At first it had been a way to grieve to deal with the pain, there had been no sense to her death, no greater purpose. She had just gone from existence, snuffed out. There had been nothing but blackness, a deep empty void in his soul that nothing could replace. The walls he erected comforted him, gave him solace from a harsh reality.

His father had erected his own walls, and they had drifted apart over time. It was a sad thing really, his father had always been so bright, so cheery but when Katherine died, so did that part of his father. He became cold towards everyone and everything, even his own son.

James had left Earth without saying goodbye to his father, he hadn't even come to the spaceport to see James off.  
It didn't matter, James found solace in the barriers he put up, both biotic and mental when he was at Grissom Academy. It was there James learned how to be a better biotic, a soldier and an officer. He even made a friend along the way. Donald Wickham. He had been a good sort, always helping James with his homework and training exercises. They became good friends, and James was even starting to feel comfortable enough to talk to Donald about his personal troubles.  
But then the Batarians came, and Donald along with so many other students died.

He had taken the loss rather hard in the following years at Grissom. He didn't socialize after that, had dedicated himself to his studies, worked on becoming a better soldier, a better biotic, a better officer. He finally understood: attachment was a weakness in his chosen profession, not when at any point that they could be asked to lay down their lives.

It was a lesson that James wished that he had never had to learn, but it was a lesson that was necessary nevertheless. It all made sense, his purpose was clear.

He was a sword: to strike down the enemies of humanity.  
He was a shield: to defend those who could not defend themselves.  
He was a weapon…and weapons do not feel, they do not love, they do not mourn.

But, that had been before…what was he now?

What did he want?

It was a question he could not answer, but he already had answered.

He wanted Kari.

As stupid and as idiotic as it seemed, there it was. Defying all logic, all reason. He wanted to be with Kari, he wanted to let go of the walls that had long been his fortress on the seashore of solitude. He wanted to let her in and share with her.

Hell, he wanted to let Tullius and Aesha in too, not in the same way, but it would be nice to have friends…real friends.  
Yet, even as that realization sunk in, Jmaes realized it would take time. He had been walled up for too long…but it wasn't time just yet…but at least…at least he had a purpose.

But…he still needed to talk to Kari.

"Hey Tullius, I'm going to take a break. My back is killing me." James lied, his back really wasn't all that sore.  
Tullius looked up from the schematics he had been going over with his omni-tool.

"Alright, but don't take too long. I'm going to need your help with these calibrations to the main gun."

James nodded in agreement, "Alright. Don't get started without me, you might cock it up." James smirked.

Tullius chuckled and shook his head, "Have a little faith, Captain."

James slapped Tullius on the back and headed towards the elevator, pulling up his omni-tool's interface as he walked. The ship's internal sensors showed Kari in the CIC, probably working on replacing the burned out kinetic barrier emitters. From what James could see, Aesha was up there too, they were both in the airlock for some reason.

James thought he had repaired the decontamination system already, it had been one of their top priorities.  
Perhaps a power conduit had blown or there had been something he missed when he was running the diagnostics. Although he was usually very through when it came to ship safety…

James reached the bridge. It was still buzzing with activity. The mechs had replaced most of the damaged hardware on the bridge, now it looked as if they were installing software and running stress tests.

Even from the elevator, James could see that there was something going on over in the airlock. He could make out only the barest portion of Aesha and Kari's backs but it looked like they were talking to someone.

James closed in to investigate. He hoped it wasn't the revenue service…coming to impound his ship. Tax season wasn't for another three months…could they have gotten wind of him blowing his entire pension? It seemed unlikely, but when it came to money, bureaucrats tended to be hot on the heels of anyone that slighted them.

The sight at the door, however, wasn't what he expected. Indeed, quite the opposite, he would have never expected it in a hundred years.

It was Keira, in civilian clothes, with a gunny-sack over her shoulder and three stacked footlockers in tow behind her.  
She looked up from her conversation with Kari and Aesha, causing the two of them to turn and look as well.  
A wry smile parted across her features as she stared up at James.

"Got room for one more?"

"Keira, what are you-?" James stammered, both shocked and happy to see his old comrade again. They exchanged a friendly hug. He had expected her to be long gone by now, off with the rest of the team, restocking, repairing and finding a replacement for him.

"Just doing what felt right, LT. Or should I say, Cap'n?" Keira gave another of her rare grins.

"Well, we should probably be going… I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about." Aesha said, nodding to Kari that they should leave Keira and James alone for a bit.  
Kari didn't seem too anxious to leave, James could see in her body language that she wanted to say something, but instead she simply nodded and let Aesha lead her away towards the war-room.

"What are you doing here?" James asked after the two had left.

Keira shrugged, "Looking for a job. I hear you might have an opening." She said, nodding towards were Aesha and Kari had wandered off to.

"Your friends seemed to think that you could help me find something." The slightest hint of a tease in her voice as she spoke.

James blinked, "But, Keira…what about the N7's? And how the hell did you get a leave of absence from Captain Hall? The bastard would hardly ever let us go on shore leave."

Keira waved her hand dismissively, that more familiar serious scowl returning to her features.

"The N7's will be fine without me and to answer your question: I didn't. Captain Hall doesn't know I'm here right now."

James's eyes went wide "You went AWOL?". Keira wasn't one to take her duties lightly, she had been one of the most dedicated, hard-assed marines he had ever known…and for her to just walk... It seemed incomprehensible.

Keira shook her head, "No. Not yet anyway. I've still got a week of leave. They won't miss me till after that and I figure your ship will be long gone by then."

Keira looked up at him, her sharp emerald eyes full of fire.  
"Besides, it wasn't right what they did to you. You deserved a goddamn medal and a promotion for what you did. I can't count the number of friends that the Alliance has screwed over since I joined up. I couldn't be part of it anymore. You're a good man, LT. I d rather work for you."

James stepped back a pace or two. Not quite believing what his ears. She and James had always worked well together, they both had a similar philosophy on their service to the Alliance, and no real family ties. The only difference was that he hadn't had a choice when it came to leaving the Alliance. She did, and as much as it humbled him to think that she would do such a thing, he didn't want her to live with the same regrets he did.

"Keira…" James began.

Keira silenced him with an upraised palm.  
"I know what you're gunna say, but I'm not going back to the Alliance. I'm done with 'em." She scowled, leaving no room for interpretation in her tone.

"Now you can either give me a job, or I can find work elsewhere. There's a lot of people looking for ex-spec ops soldiers these days."  
It was a rather blunt and cold statement, but James recognized the meaning behind it. This was her choice, she had made it and she would live with the consequences.

James had known Keira long enough to know that she wasn't going to back down once she set her mind to something. And it would be nice having an old comrade at his side once again.

James sighed reluctantly and shook his head.  
"Well…If this is what you really want…you're hired."

Keira gave an impish grin, before extending her hand.  
"Good to work with you again, sir."

James took her hand and clasped it firmly in a handshake, a smile spreading across his own lips behind the mask.  
"Likewise."

Kari stood over the main console in engineering. She was feeling rather lonely, ever since yesterday she had a lot on her mind, and not a lot to do. Most of the hardest work had already been done by James, but Kari was still having difficulty with some of the ship's systems.

She had kept herself busy as best as she could on what she knew how to do, but it had been some years since she had worked on an eezo core. She spent more time on the extranet looking up proper procedures than she did actually working.

It made her feel useless and stupid on top of being lonely. She wished she had paid more attention to her mother when she was instructing her on how to overhaul an engine.

After several hours of trying, Kari simply gave up out of frustration. She sat down on one of the storage boxes and simply stared at the floor for the longest time.

She wanted to talk to someone, anyone. She needed to feel like she wasn't alone in the universe, beating her head against a wall. Kari decided to try to call the fleet.

She opened her omni-tool and set the options to vidcall. She looked down the list of contacts that were currently available. Most of them were greyed out, except for that of her father, who always kept his omni-tool on and Lia'Raan. She didn't particularly feel like talking to her father right at this moment, and he would probably just be busy anyway.

Kari tapped the display, initiating a call to Captain Lia'Raan. There were a few moments of static before the tiny picture of Lia's visor appeared on her omni-tool's holoscreen.

"Kari, is that you? Good to see you." Lia said warmly upon seeing Kari's visor in the vidscreen. She looked as if she was sitting at her desk in the Captain's cabin, likely going over reports when Kari's call had come in.

"Good to see you too, Lia" Kari said pensively.

Lia's body language shifted in response to Kari's voice, noting that something wasn't quite right.

"Why haven't you called? Are you alright? Your father keeps asking me if I've heard from you."

Lia'Raan was one of the twin daughters of one of the Quarian Admiral Shala'raan. The three of them had been friends when Kari was younger, in the days before she started to drift away from her father and mother.  
Lia only a few years older than Kari's, but she had already been given command of one of the Flotilla's frigates, and her sister Ria was the chief engineer on the Kfira.

Lia and Kari's father worked together quite a lot, and when couldn't be present at the ceremony before the start of her pilgrimage, he had asked Lia to take his place.

Of course, he had apologized to Kari, stating that as much as he wanted to be there, the needs of the fleet came first.  
But she had heard that same excuse for the last seven years, Kari had gotten used to the idea that her father wouldn't be around by now. Her mother was much the same way, although she didn't even try to explain her actions to her daughter, she just wasn't there.

Needless to say, it came as a mild surprise to Kari that her father was wondering where she had disappeared to over the last three weeks.

"I-I'm sorry. I f-forgot to c-call." Kari stammered, as she realized what she had done.

Of course her father would have been worried, she told her parents that she was almost finished with her pilgrimage and would be coming home soon. Couple that with the news of the Geth attack on Eden Prime, and it would be enough to make anyone worry.

Lia raised a hand dismissively,  
"Don't worry about it, Kar. It's fine. I told him that you probably were just busy or the like. He just misses you, you know?"

Kari blinked, her father hadn't exactly been around a lot since her teenage years…and when he was they hardly talked. He was always encouraging her to work on her drills or study military tactics. Apply for positions in the flotilla that would give her good experience for a command of her own one day.

They never really had just talked. At least, not like they used to.

"He does?" Kari asked, more than a little surprised at the revelation.

Lia nodded, "Well, yeah. He speaks highly of you every time we talk. "  
"Oh..." Kari murmured, looking down at her feet sheepishly. She had always assumed that her father simply forgot about her when he was at work.

Lia was light-years away and only could see the smallest portion of Kari's visor but she could tell that the subject was making Kari more than a little uncomfortable.

"But enough about that, how have you been, Kar? Staying safe, I hope?"

Kari looked back up the hologram of Lia's visor.

"Y-yes. I have been on the Citadel."

Lia edged forward in her seat.

"Oooh, that must be fun. I wanted to go there when I was on pilgrimage, but it was too far. What's it like?"

"Massive." Kari said, a little awe in her voice. "I spent most of my time in a hospital on the Presidium, and there was so much free space…you wouldn't believe it!"

Lia's eyes blinked,  
"Wait, hospital? Did you get hurt?"

Kari realized that in her excitement she had let a bit too much slip.

"Um. No, I'm fine…I was…visiting someone…." She mumbled, her cheeks starting to fluster a bit.

She didn't know quite what Lia would think of her current situation, and she certainly didn't want news of her interest in James getting back to her parents.

"Oh? Is the person you were visiting okay?" Lia asked sympathically.

"Yes, he's okay." Kari admitted.

"He? Hmmmm…" Lia hummed suspiciously.

"What?" Kari blurted defensively.

"Oh…nothing." Lia answered innocently, but Kari could tell that she was smirking behind her visor.

A moment of awkward silence passed between Kari and Lia on the vidcom before Lia leaned in closer to her omni-tool.

"Is he cute?"

"Keelah!" Kari cried out in embarrassment, causing Lia into a fit of laughter.

"Oh Kari…You haven't changed a bit have you? It's far too easy to get over on you." Lia smirked as Kari covered her visor with her free hand.

"I hope your new friend hasn't been keeping you too 'busy'." She giggled.

"N-no! I-it's n-not like that! W-we j-just…"

Lia raised her hand to stop Kari, although she was still chuckling softly as she spoke.

"Don't worry about it, Kar. Your secret's safe with me…but I'm curious…"

Lia smiled, leaning forward in her seat like a schoolgirl latching onto a piece of gossip

"Where did you two meet, what is he like?"

Kari wasn't sure quite what to say. She could lie and deny the whole thing, or say that they had met somewhere that might lead Lia to believe that her new friend was a Quarian on pilgrimage as well.

But Kari was a terrible liar, and to deny her feelings for James felt like a betrayal.

"He rescued me from Eden Prime. He risked his life to save us from the Geth…" Kari whispered reverently as she spoke.

"He's strong, and handsome, and tall and brave and selfless… I-I've never met anyone like him before, Lia." Kari bowed her head her eyes were beginning to water a bit.

"And he wants to be with me..." Kari gave a half-sob, half-chuckle. "Silly…isn't it?"

Lia put her hands down in her lap, shaking her head in admiration. She had expected something a bit more tawdry or more reserved. She had never known Kari to be one to lightly give affection. Whoever this was must had made one hell of an impression on her.

"Wow. He sounds amazing…you care about him a lot." Lia observed in quiet deference.

"Yes. He is…and I do…but I don't understand why he would want to be with me." Kari admitted sadly.

"Why not? You're a great girl: smart, talented and pretty…any guy would be lucky to have you." Lia observed.

"I'm not…" Kari mumbled.

"Yes you are. Just because you like tinkering with plants instead of tech doesn't make you a dumb person Kar. It makes you unique and special. You deserve to be with someone that makes you happy." Lia said, smiling behind her visor.

Kari shifted in her seat nervously.

"To be honest I'm a bit jealous…"

Kari turned her head inquisitively.

"Of what?"

Lia chuckled, "Of you, of course."

Kari really couldn't believe that. All throughout her growing up years, Kari had envied Lia. She had a proclivity for leadership that Kari lacked and her sister had turned out to be a technical whizz.  
Kari had always wished to be like them, to have their drive, passion and certainty of purpose.  
Why would Lia be jealous of her?

"I don't understand." Kari admitted.

Lia eyes softened a bit,

"You are good at so many things, Kari. You may not think so, but you are. I've only ever been good at being a soldier. It's all I know, I could never be anything else… but you… You have so much talent. You can do anything you set your mind to: I wish I could be like you."

Kari sat there silently for a moment. The sound of the drive core's thrumming heartbeat the only sound in the room as Lia's word sunk into Kari's mind.

"T-Thank you…" Kari murmured at last.  
She didn't really believe all the things Lia had said about her…but she believed that Lia was telling her the truth. And that gave her some comfort.

"Anytime." Lia's eyes seemed to smile warmly at her.

Kari wanted to say something, to tell Lia how much her words meant to Kari, but she couldn't find the words to say.

"I've got to get back to work…but call your father sometime. I know it would mean a lot to him."

Kari nodded.

"I will…and…Lia." Kari paused, a moment of lucidity breaking the torrent of her rushing thoughts.

"Hmmm?" Lia looked up curiously.

"Thank you…for being a better friend that I have been."

"Kari. You have been a great friend to me. You just need to realize how extraordinary you are."

Kari couldn't respond to that…she just nodded quietly.

"I hope to see you again soon, Kari. Keelah Se'lai."

"Keelah Se'lai."

Kari closed her omni-tool's interface, sitting back against the bulkhead. She stared up at the ceiling as bulkhead vibrated softly against the back of her head.

She didn't see the shadowy figure that had been standing just outside her field of vision…nor did she see it when it quietly slipped off into the darkness of the Revenant's corridors.

Kari was too deep in her thoughts, in considering Lia'Raan's words. Lia was right. Kari had spent too much time trying to be what she thought her father and mother wanted her to be. Too much time trying to be something she wasn't. She might not be the perfect daughter or the perfect lover but Kari wanted to be the best she could be for the ones she loved.

Kari opened her omni-tool's interface again, slipping her finger down the list to a file she had named "EPPD", copying it and pasting it into her vidcom app.

With a trembling finger, Kari tapped the name "Zevi'Vereah vas Vanya."

The calling button flashed only twice before the screen gave way to the stern, and powerful figure of the Captain of the Vanya.

"Kari?" the strong voice of her father caught up in both surprise and relief as he realized who was on the other end of the call.

Kari smiled affectionately.  
"Hi, daddy."

* * *

James slipped away quietly. He had been listening to Kari's conversation for long enough. He had come down to engineering shortly after he had helped Keira settle in down in the landing bay. She had brought her own kit and weapons along with her as well as some extra firepower and equipment that she "liberated" from the N7 armoury. James had protested at first, but Keira had assured him that she had left more than an ample supply of credits to make up the difference for what she had taken.

James wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not, since the custom made weapons for the N7's were rather expensive, but he thought that pressing the issue wouldn't be wise. And as much as he didn't like the idea of anyone stealing for him, he had to admit that the stuff she had brought along was sorely needed.

After Keira had gotten to work, James made his way to the engineering deck. He still needed to talk to Kari after all, it had been the original reason he had left working on installing the ship's main cannon.

But when James had entered the room, he noticed something strange. Kari was talking to someone on her omni-tool. A vidcall back to the Flotilla from the look of it. It was strange, James had never seen Kari talking to anyone from her home before and while his mother had taught him it was rude to eavesdrop, James couldn't help his curiousity.

He lingered in the shadows as the scene played out. He couldn't really hear everything that Kari and the girl on the other end was saying, the steady thrumming of the drive core muffled out some of her words, but it sounded like Kari was talking about him.

_"He rescued me from Eden Prime. He risked his life to save us-"_

They were talking about him, the revelation peaking James's interest. He drew closer to hear the conversation better.

_"He's strong, and handsome, and tall and brave and selfless… I-I've never met anyone like him before, Lia." _

James felt a lump catch in his throat. He had never heard anyone talk about him like that before… at least not in that way. There was a silvered tone to Kari's voice, as if she was describing something from a dream or a vision, like she couldn't really believe that he was real.

_"And he wants to be with me...silly…isn't it?" _

That one hurt. James looked down at the floor in shame. How easily he had fallen into the trap of doubt and self-pity. In his weakness, he had almost shattered the hopes and dreams of a beautiful girl that wanted nothing more than to be with him.  
She deserved so much more than he…but, James wasn't going to make the mistake of letting her slip through his fingers. He would have her, if she still wanted him.

James slipped off into the shadows, even before the call was over. He had heard all he needed to hear.

The rest of the week went pretty well for the crew of the Revenant. Things had seemed a whole lot better for Kari since she had talked to Lia and her father. During their call, she sent him the data she had gathered on Eden Prime, told him of her plans to stay aboard the Revenant for a time and finally admitted to him that she wanted to be a biologist. He took all the news rather well, listening patiently while Kari rambled on for what seemed like hours.

When she had finished her piece, Zevi finally spoke:

"Kari. You know you could have told me, I would have understood." Zevi cooed in that warm voice that Kari remembered from her childhood: the same voice that scared away the monsters from underneath her bed and banished the shadows from their inky perches.

"I-I didn't want to disappoint you." Kari muttered, bowing her head in shame. She had never wanted to hurt her father, but it seemed that despite her best efforts, she had accomplished just that.  
"Kari…you could never disappoint me. You're my daughter. I will always be proud of you." Zevi looked off screen for a moment, pensively as if gathering his thoughts.

"I'm sorry…if I lead you to believe otherwise. I know I haven't really been there these last few years…." Zevi sighed regretfully.

"N-no i-it's okay. I understand…" Kari began, but Zevi held up his hand to stop her.

"No, Kari. It's not okay. I have let my work interfere with what's important. The Fleet has had to come first far too often for our family. Your mother and I have decided that it's time to make a change. "

Zevi back to his daughter, his eyes showing the smile that was forming behind his visor.

"Things will be different when you come back from pilgrimage, I promise you."

Kari grinned a bit, recalling how he had missed her seventh birthday after promising to be there. He had taken an entire week's shore-leave to make up for his indiscretion.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, dah-dah." She chuckled fondly at the memory.

Zevi chuckled as well. He remembered that week as well. It had been the only time he had ever broken a promise to his daughter. It was a mistake he had sworn never to make again, no matter what.

"Don't worry, little bird. I won't forget." Zevi reassured.

Kari smiled at the nickname. He hadn't used it in years.

"I love you, dah-dah."

"I love you too, Kari. Stay safe."

Yet despite everything that Kari had told her father, she hadn't mentioned her relationship with James to him. She wondered if perhaps that had been a mistake, after all, he seemed to be very understanding of her desires.

Kari felt unsure, unsteady…as if the whole thing might have been some half remembered dream. She still was uncomfortable about what had happened last week in the docking bay.

James had wanted to say something to her, something that bothered him to the deepest part of his soul. She had never seen that much pain in his eyes before, not even directly after his surgery. Tullius had cut him off before he could express what was on his mind, but Kari had the feeling that it was in regards to her.

James had been by a few times since then, but they hadn't really had a chance to talk since that day.

Perhaps he was going to tell her that it couldn't work out between them? That there was another woman in his life now? Perhaps that human girl that had shown up the day after?

Kari felt her stomach churn at the thought, her lunch threatening to reacquaint itself with her lips.

The thought of another woman's arms around James made Kari's blood boil, and yet at the same time it made a deep empty pang of what felt like regret…but much deeper and distant in her soul. Sorrow perhaps, but longing as well.  
Whatever it was, it was a messy emotion, and the more she thought about James in that Keira woman's arms…the more overwhelming the sensation got.

"You okay?" Marah grunted as she looked over from her console.

Marah had joined them on the crew just a few days ago. There had been some initial friction between her and Tullius when she came aboard, there having been a lot of bad blood between their species, but Marah had settled into working on the ship's systems next to Kari down in Engineering splendidly. She was a technical whizz, and had done in a few days what would have taken a Kari a week to stumble through.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little sick to my stomach." Kari muttered, trying to look as if it was nothing more than a stomach bug.

"Did you try to eat that human garbage again? What did you call it? Ice-cream? I told you sweet crap like that will make you soft." Marah grunted, a wry grin on her face.

"No…" Kari mumbled, "It's not that." She wasn't really in the mood to banter at the moment, images of James in bed with other women disrupting her concentration.

"What is it then?" Marah asked, turning her head from her console to look up at Kari to study her.

Kari didn't know if she should say anything. In all honesty, she wasn't even sure she could. James and her hadn't really done anything to warrant a relationship. They had hugged a few times, snuggled a lil bit, but they hadn't even kissed or….

Kari grimaced. She really had no claim to James, nothing that she could really latch onto to defend her feelings. They hadn't made love, or made out or even linked suit environments.  
Hell, they hadn't even known each other for more than a month. She was being stupid, and childish. If James had lost interest in her, then maybe she just shouldn't say anything at all. She should just let him be happy and stay out of his way.

Talking about it with Marah wasn't going to help, if anything it was going to make it worse. Kari shook her head and looked up at Marah with a sad smile.

"I'm fine. Just some bad nutri-paste." She said in the sincerest voice she could muster.

Marah stared at Kari with an unbelieving scowl, but she nodded.  
"Alright. It's your business, but if you want to talk or need a few skulls cracked, don't hesitate to ask."

Marah gave a grim grin as she patted the Quarian on her back.

"Especially if it's that Turian that's giving you a hard time."

Kari smiled a little despite herself. She remembered how Marah had head-butted Tullius when she first came on board. Kari hadn't caught exactly what he said, but it was something along the lines of being "full up on crazy."

Of course Tullius had meant it as a joke, but Kari got the impression that Marah was the type to look for an excuse to rough up species she didn't care for.

"Tullius is a good guy. I think you should give him a chance." Kari reflected, despite remembering some of the nasty things that he had said about her people a week ago.

"Heh. Maybe so," Marah chortled, "but I do enjoy giving smart-mouth Turians a little something to think about."

Kari giggled, "I think you more than did that. Did you hear him wailing about his nose?"

Marah laughed boisterously, "I think the entire ward heard him."

Kari nodded, "He's such a drama queen."

"Eh, he'll be alright. In fact, I think it's an improvement."

_"Talking about me again, eh?"_

Kari and Marah had been too preoccupied to notice James enter the room. Kari pivoted quickly on her heels to turn and face him, her face going flush with embarrassment as she realized that James had heard them talking bad about his friend.

"James! W-when did you c-come in?" Kari stammered as she looked up at him. Those violet eyes of his were regarding her with the same intensity as they had the night the night that he had first expressed his interest in her.

Kari shifted uncomfortably and looked down at his chest sheepishly. She didn't want him to see her pining over him. If he really did want to have someone else, then she shouldn't let her feelings for him get in his way.

"Just now." he smirked. He had heard everything she had said about Tullius, but he didn't really mind. That's not why he was here anyway.

Kari noticed by the look of his coat that he wasn't wearing his full environment suit today, just the mask and the overcoat. Kari secretly wished that she could discard her suit whenever she wanted to.

_"Irving."_ Marah nodded to James respectfully.

_"Marah."_ James returned the gesture.

He looked back to Kari and then at Marah again before he spoke.

"Do you mind if I take Kari off your hands for a bit? I need to discuss a few ship upgrades with her."

Marah shrugged and gave a curt nod.

"Fine by me, we were just screwing around anyway, drive core's good-to-go."

"Glad to hear it. We may need to leave in a hurry, the CNN says that the Citadel is tightening security: something about a possible terrorist attack."

Marah shrugged again, "Eh, those pyjaks are full of hot air, but if C-Sec comes snooping around here…."

James nodded, "Aye. In any case, be ready."

Marah nodded, "Will do."

James turned his attention back to Kari.

"Kari, would you come with me please?"

Kari felt her heart sink into her stomach. This was it. James was going to tell her he wasn't interested anymore. Kari prepared herself. She followed behind James as he led her to the lift, pressing the interface to take them to deck 1: captain's quarters.

Kari was thankful for that at least. If he was going to drive a stake through her heart, at least it would be in the privacy of his quarters rather than in someplace public.

The lift door opened, and the faint hiss of compressed air escaping. Kari noticed that in the room just outside the captain's cabin had been modified heavy. While before there had only been bare walls and bulkheads, the soft red lights of a decon chamber that glowed with a soft iridescence as barely visible beams passed over James and Kari.

Kari thought it curious, for James to have installed a decontamination unit just outside his quarters. It made sense she supposed, due to his condition. Something as small and benign as a common cold could make it extremely difficult to breathe even with his mask.

The door opened and James extended his hand, signaling that Kari should go in first. Kari swallowed hard, but she proceeded into James's quarters as she was bade. As she stepped inside, the first thing Kari noticed was the sudden warmth that seemed to crash in.

The once barren room was now filled with sights and sounds that seemed to all flood in at once. There were several new pieces of furniture in the room, including a glass table, a pair of modest but stylish chairs and several paintings hung on the wall. All depicting pastoral and natural scenes of what Kari assumed was James's homeworld.

The room itself was dark, except for an array of candles which served to illuminate a long swath fabric that was hung like a tapestry over the longest section of wall to Kari's left as she came in. It had intricate patterns of swirls and crests that looked like the waves of an ocean. The flicking light of the candles cast up long shadows over the fabric, causing it to shift in colour from a deep purple to a navy blue as the waves seemed to come alive in their own ebbs and flows.

Kari broke her gaze from the tapestry to look the glass table which she had noticed coming in. It had place settings for two and several dishes that looked to be containing food. There were two glasses at the table as well in the shape of a bell.

It looked like James was expecting company.

Kari was not exactly sure what to make of the entire set-up. It was very beautiful, and Kari felt a pang of longing as she beheld the scene. But it was more than a little inconsiderate if James had brought her up here to break it off with her shortly before having dinner with someone else.

Kari turned to James slowly, but before she could say anything, she noticed that James wasn't wearing his overcoat anymore. He was wearing a dress uniform… simple navy blue fabric with gold trim that Kari had seen the Alliance officers wear. The "dress blues" as they called them.

But most importantly of all: he wasn't wearing his mask anymore.

James grinned at her. It was the first time Kari had seen his face…his full face, with nothing in the way. No respirator, no helmet, no gas-mask. Just the warm smile of the human that she had grown so fond of.  
And then it hit her.

_He had done all this for her._

"How do you like the new decorum?" James asked, trying to hide the mild discomfort of having to suck in a lot more air than he was used to. Even though the room was set to a comfortable 760 Torr, it felt like standing on the top of Mount McKinley.

"I thought since we really hadn't had any time together this week, perhaps you might like to join me for dinner?"  
James asked, extending his hand towards the glass table in an offer.

Kari stood there staring at James for the longest time, just watching his labored breathing and sheepish smile as he waited for a response from her. Kari felt a tear slide down her face as she realized just how stupid she had been for doubting him.

Kari stepped forward, towards him, too overcome by emotion to speak. She wrapped her arms around his back and pulling him into a tender hug as she laid her head on his right shoulder.

"It's perfect. Thank you." She whispered tenderly.

James let his own arms fall around Kari's back, settling into that perfect spot around her hips, the warm fabric of her suit shifting under his fingertips ever so slightly.

"I would have put on music, but I didn't know what you liked…and I thought that perhaps you would want to talk and…."

James felt something shift, Kari's right arm dropped away and he heard the soft clunk of something metallic hitting the floor.

"Kari? What are you doing?" he asked, turning his head slightly to the right.

"Something I've been wanting to do for awhile." She stated simply, and turned her face to his.

And James felt lips on his, tender and soft, sweet and gentle.

And for that moment, James forgot about everything.


	10. Chapter 10: Before the Storm

**Chapter 10: Before the Storm.**

Tullius stood on the bridge of the Revenant, yawning wearily. He had been up most of the nights working on fine tuning the ship's main gun. He had been going line by line of code, optimizing the ship's targeting algorithms. It was a relatively easy job to do, but rather time consuming.

The ship's gun was an older model of a mass accelerator commonly used by Turian ships when he had been serving in the Heirarchy's intelligence service. The tech was a decade old, but with a little patience and a lot of work, he had gotten it up to specs.

Although he had lost many a night's sleep doing so. It wasn't anyone's fault but his own, his parents had always taught him to never postpone a project. Never to set aside what could be done today for tomorrow, since it could be the difference between life and death, especially in career military families like the one he had been brought up in.

Unfortunately, sometimes Tullius pushed himself far too hard for far too long, even when it wasn't exactly necessary.  
He couldn't help himself though: the Revenant needed to be the best she could be with the little credits they had, and

Tullius had done his best to make every single one go as far it could, but there was only so much he could do. The Revenant was as ready as she was going to be, at least until they got more credits.

Which is why Tullius had scouted a few jobs already from his old contacts in military intelligence. Most of the freelance jobs these days were in the Terminus systems at Omega, beyond the reach of most police forces. "Lawless space." as it had been called, lots of crime and danger but there was always opportunity.

Tullius didn't relish the idea of going back into the Terminus systems, he had made more than a few enemies there back in his glory days but he figured that if it kept them flying, it was worth the risk.

Tullius took another sip of his drink, a Turian stimulating beverage like human coffee but much more potent. Aesha's hand extended expectantly from behind the panel she was working on.

Tullius handed her another barrier emitter. They were relatively small, the size of a dining plate but thicker and coated with a metallic substance that allowed energy to flow freely from the 'top' of the emitter out past the ship's armour.

"How are we doing?" Tullius asked as Aesha took the emitter from him, seating it in it's housing just under the new armour plates.

"Pretty well." Aesha muttered as she enabled a program on her omni-tool that allowed her to screw the bolts into their sockets. "We will need more of these when we get to Omega…but I think I can get her up to 70% with a little luck."

Tullius frowned at that number. He had hoped to get the shields to more around 90% before they left the Citadel.  
"Well… it's something at least." Tullius said hopefully. "At least we will survive the first shot the Geth fire at us."

"A few more than that, if I have anything to say about it." Aesha muttered absent mindedly.  
Tullius sipped away on his drink, the steam from the brown liquid felt good to his still sore nose.

"So when are you going to do it?" Aesha asked, reaching for another emitter and placing it.

"Do what?" Tullius asked, although he had a good idea of what Aesha was referring to.

"Talk to Kari…" Aesha said, looking up from her work for a moment to give Tullius a disapproving frown.

Tullius grimaced, "Oh…that…right…er- well. I've got some work to do on the main gun and-"

Aesha raised a scathing eyebrow. Tullius could tell she wasn't going to buy it this time.

Tullius growled in frustration "Fine. I'll talk to her today…" Tullius muttered.

Aesha gave an approving nod, before returning her attention to her work.

"Good, because you still owe her an apology."

"I know." Tullius sighed, "But I don't like the idea of risking birthing an AI just because we need a little extra help around here."

Aesha nodded, screwing another bolt into position.

"I know, and to be honest I'm a little wary of the idea myself, but you shouldn't have insulted her people, Tully.  
Aesha chided, finishing the last bolt and closing the panel.  
Tullius offered his hand and Aesha accepted it, pulling herself up from her seated position to be face to face with Tullius.

"You're right. It wasn't good of me to dreg up the past like that. Especially when my own people's history had been less than ideal." Tullius admitted, looking away remoarsefully.

Aesha frowned a little. It was a rare thing to see Tullius without a grin on his face. Aesha placed her hand gently on Tullius's face, caressing it softly and turning his head back towards her. She smiled comfortingly at him and gave him a soft peck on the lips.

Tullius scoffed and gave a little grin. Her smile was infectious.

"Too bad we can't all be as graceful as the Asari…" Tullius noted, putting down his drink and slipping his hands around Aesha's waist.  
"Maybe you can even get that Krogan to apologize for smashing my nose."

Aesha chuckled. "I maybe a miracle worker, Tully, but I'm not a goddess."  
Tullius tilted his head to the side and shrugged.  
"That's debateable…"

Aesha smiled even wider as she wrapped her arms around Tullius's neck and they embraced in a long kiss.

"So…you think that Kari and James are still asleep…?" Tullius asked, grinning wolfishly.

"What…now…here?" Aesha giggled, looking around Tullius to see if anyone was on the CIC deck.

Tullius nodded, "Why not? We've worked hard, I think we deserve a little...break."

Aesha raised her eyebrow and chuckled, "Mmm. Well, when you put it that way…." she leaned up to whisper in Tullius's ear.

"Close the door..."

Tullius felt a chill run down his spine, as he nuzzled up to her ear.

"Yes, ma'am…"

Tullius slammed the door mechanism and the twin bulkheads slid close, sealing the two away from the world.

* * *

_"Achoo!"_ Kari sputtered for what seemed to be the two hundredth time today. She groaned, as she ran the suit's visor cleaning program again. She so wanted it to be over right now. She could hardly concentrate on her work, her skin was hot and sweaty and her suit felt like it needed a good washing.  
Even with the meds she had taken, she still felt like such a mess.

_Keelah, what I wouldn't give for a good shower right about now._ Kari thought.

She put her fingers back on the panel where she had been tweaking the code for engine output, trying to increase the power output without atomizing the ship in the process.

Kari was just about to start writing a new line of code when she felt an itch inside her nose again.

_"Achoo!" _Kari sputtered again, sending a miserable hot-cold flash throughout her body as she did.

Marah looked up from her panel and shook her head.  
"Must have been some night." She commented, well aware of the implications of Kari's sudden sickness.

Kari simply moaned pitifully, putting her head down on the ship's panel in frustration.  
Marah sighed heavily. As much as she wasn't relishing having to work on the engine modifications alone, Kari's illness made her less than productive. In fact, she was more than a little distracting.

"Why don't you take the day off and get some rest." Marah said, as more of a command rather than a request.

"N-no. _Achoo!_ Ugh- I'm okay…" Kari said, pulling herself back up to a standing posture and continuing on the modifications, albeit at a snail's pace.

"No. You need to go lie down, Kari." Marah murmured, putting her hand on Kari's. Kari looked up at the larger krogan woman, there seemed to be genuine concern on her face or at least, what passed for it on Tuchanka.

"Besides. If I have to hear you sneeze one more time, I'm going to headbutt you." Marah said, patting Kari's hand softly.  
Kari grinned a little, but it quickly disappeared when she realized that she couldn't tell if Marah was joking or not.

"Uh- o-okay. If you sa- if you sa-…" Kari felt another sneeze coming on, but she caught the look on Marah's face.  
With great effort, Kari managed to suppress it.  
Marah grinned impishly. "That's a good girl. Now run along to bed. I'll take care of things down here." She said, with a slightly patronizing tone.

Kari nodded and thanked Marah and left the engineering deck before another sneeze came on. She use the lift to return to her quarters. She flopped down into the bed without even bothering to take off the fabric that adorned her suit.  
It was mid-morning on the Citadel, and the Serpent's nebula's sun shone in brightly through the window in Kari's room. Kari had tried shutting the metal shutter to block out the light before, but the mechanisms that controlled it had been damaged in the attack. The full intensity of the star's rays seemed to filter in through her visor, no matter which angle she turned. She even tried putting the pillow over her head, but to no avail, the faintest hint of light still creeped in through the fringes.

Kari groaned in irritation as she flipped over once again, sniffling, trying desperately to clear out her nasal passages. It didn't work, it only seemed to make it worse.

Kari wanted so badly to be able to just go to sleep. To fall into the tender arms of unconsciousness and slip away into her dreams…which had become increasingly more pleasant since she and James had gotten together.  
Most of them were sweet, some of them sensual…and some just downright erotic. The sensations and desires it had awoken in her were unfamiliar, strange, but very pleasant.

Kari had even found herself daydreaming at some points, implementing strategies and plans to execute some of the more desirable scenes that she had dreamt of. James had given her a taste of what intimacy could offer, but Kari wanted more….

Which is why her cold was doubly irritating to her. If she had gotten this sick just from kissing James in a decontaminated room, how sick could she get if they went even further?

Of course, Kari had read the articles when she was a child, about the proper mating procedures for kind. Herbal supplements, immuno-boosters, anti-biotics, but that had all been information for two Quarian lovers, who had both spent their lives in sterile environments and in properly scrubbed clean rooms.

But James was a human, he had spent his life living symbiotically with bacteria, growing immune and accustomed to pathogens. There was no telling how many foreign bodies existed on him alone, not to mention any furniture in the room.  
True, the decontamination unit outside of James's room meant that no new bacteria or viruses would enter his quarters, it still didn't negate the fact that there were probably some bacteria lurking in the corners, no matter how well he scrubbed it.  
Looking back on it now, it was a stupid risk that Kari had taken, she hadn't prepared, had set aside the time to do the research, she had just jumped right in with nary a thought to the consequences. Of which she was paying for now.

Kari groaned and flipped over in her bed. She wasn't going to be able to sleep, not for awhile at least. Maybe if she watched some vids for awhile, she could find that dreary sensation that preceeded slumber.

Kari flipped on the screen and brought the television app online. She paused for a moment, trying to think of what sort of vids might provide the mind-numbing state she needed to acquire her much needed sleep.

It didn't take her long to figure it out, Kari ran her thumb idly over the channel selection, bringing up the Citadel News Network as she laid back and watched quietly.

There were four newcasters on the screen arrayed around a table in what looked to be a talk show segment of the broadcast. There was a Turian male, a Salarian male, a human female and a Volus male. She had turned on the channel mid-sentence, but from what she understood, they had been debating the necessity of the increased security around the Citadel and what it could mean for the average citizen.

Kari felt her eyes drooping already… she closed her eyes, letting the background noise of the newcaster's voices slowly edge her into an unconscious state.

_"…Blasto movie….breaking box office records…."_

Kari started to drift off, laying the pad against her chest as her breathing slowed.

_"…Alliance Captain arrested today on charges of aiding and abetting mutineers, as well as assault and battery….pending charges…."_

The voices of the newcasters fell away from her reality, as did the dull ache of sickness: replaced by the shrouded mist of the spaces between thought and time.  
Kari reached across to her neck, her hand grasping a little bauble beneath the fabric around her enviro-suit and let herself be carried off into dream.

* * *

_Fly little bird. Fly._ Came the voice across the sea.  
_Fly little bird. Fly._

Kari looked around. She was standing somewhere she didn't recognize. A vast ocean of silver and white on a world she didn't recognize. She stood on a little patch of something white and hard, that sat mired in the still seas. It's surface was cold on the soles of her feet.

She looked down, curiously to regard her perch when she realized that she didn't have a suit on…she had nothing on. Kari was bare against the cold winds of this world, her pale skin almost as white as the ice beneath her.

Ice…that's what it was…. She had heard of it, and seen pictures of it, but never had she felt it against her skin.  
Yet, there was something marring the surface of the ice, something small and brown. Kari kneeled down to see what it was.

It was a nest, like that of a bird's, made from little pebbles and stones collected from the shoals of the unseen shore far beyond the horizon.

_Fly little bird. Fly._ The voice came again, louder this time, causing Kari to look up from the nest for it's source.  
There was nothing there, only the gentle cresting and churning of the waters and the smell of frozen salt air.

Kari looked down at the nest again. There was something about it, something familiar, like she had seen it before in a dream…or a dream of a dream. The nest itself was bare, empty as if long deserted, but something called to her. Pleading for her to stay, and yet the voice came again with greater urgency.

_Fly little bird! Fly!_ It sounded like it was right behind her.

Kari looked up again, to search for the speaker when she saw it.  
Kari froze in place.

There was a great beast before her, one that she did not recognize. It was massive, with four legs, a great shaggy cloak of black fur, a great maw of yellowed teeth and two red eyes that burned with a fire like that of a dying sun.

Kari reached for her shotgun, but only felt the still sting of the ocean air at her back, and the sensation of her own bare skin beneath her fingertips.

The creature sat motionless opposite of her, staring at Kari with an unnerving glare. Kari thought that perhaps the beast would kill her and consume her, but it made no move. It only looked up at her.  
Kari's muscles tensed, she looked back at the waters behind her. They seemed to be calm and still, but something wasn't quite right. Shadows and forms flitted and darted beneath their surface, hovering just beneath the waves.

Kari turned to the beast, fear grasping at her voice, as she spoke.

"W-what are you?" Kari asked.

It didn't move.

"What do you want?" Kari asked, this time with more force behind her voice.

There was a long moment's pause, but the features of the creature changed ever so slightly at her question. It finally broke its gaze from Kari, bowing its head down towards the empty nest, its eyes coming to rest on the stones.

Kari felt something stir inside her, a moment of lucidity in all the swirling chaos of the ocean and for a moment all seemed to coalesce. Sudden, Kari no longer felt the bite of winter's embrace on her skin. The sea fell still, as fingers of frost stretched forth the ice floe where Kari was standing, capturing the waves in their frigid embrace and sealing them into statuesque sentinels around the empty nest.  
_**Fly little bird! Fly!**_

The voice called out one last time, before it too became nothing but an echo on the frozen plains. Kari ignored it. She reached forth her hand and placed it gently on the beast's head, causing a light layer of frost to form between its ears. The creature leaned into her hand and issued forth a tiny whimper, but not of pain…but of happiness.

Kari smiled and placed her forehead against its head as she wrapped her arms around it in a hug.

But the scene did not fade as it should, into eddies of joy and peace.

Instead a long shadow fell over the both of them in the shape of a great claw like hand, the dark form descending like the shroud of the eternal dreamless slumber.

The beast turned its head to her, its great maw opening for the first time, a shattered and deep voice issuing forth from its lips.

_"You should have flown, little bird."_

* * *

When Kari awoke the first thing she noticed how dark the room was. It was nighttime out and the sparkling lights of the Citadel's other arms filtered faint through the window.  
Keelah I must have overslept.

Kari cursed inwardly, as she swung her feet over the edge of the bed. She looked around the room, it was quiet and empty, with no sound but the soft crackle of static from the datapad that she had been using to watch CNN before she fell asleep.

_That's odd_

Kari thought, as she picked up the pad, thinking that perhaps that she had changed the channel to a dead frequency in her sleep, but a quick check of the vid proved otherwise. She was on the right channel, but the feed was gone, replaced by the buzzing nothingness of black and white.

Something stirred uneasily in the back of her mind, a sensation of wrongness, a feeling in her gut that something wasn't right.  
She flipped the channel, hoping that it was just a technical difficulty at the Citadel News station, but it wasn't just CNN. Station after station, frequency after frequency was dead, nothing but static. Kari checked the datapad itself…no errors…full signal bars…

A growing sense of dread wormed its way into her stomach. Something was terribly wrong. Kari put down the datapad, it was only then she noticed it wasn't nighttime at all…it was mid-afternoon.

Kari let the datapad drop from her fingers as she rushed towards the window. From her vantage point, she could see that the Citadel's arms had closed. Tiny dots like drops of mercury filled the skies above the Revenant, and at the very center of it all….was that…_thing_!

Kari fell away and onto the floor from the window when she saw it, scrabbling away towards the far corner of the room.

That ship! The claw like vessel that had haunted her dreams and been the stuff of her nightmares since Eden Prime. It was here. On the Citadel, its vice like tendrils wrapped around the Presidium tower while thousands of silver and black specks swarmed across the station's arms like flies to carrion.

Kari's mind staggered at the realization:

_The Geth had come._

The door to her room slid open in that moment, and Kari recoiled and whimpered pitifully, fully expecting a Geth plasma bolt to issue forth from the opening and end her life. But the bolt did not come, nor did any other weapons fire, only white light as an inky shadow formed in the doorway. Kari lifted her head, to behold the intruder.

The dark figure stepped forth from the light, tall and muscular clad in a heavy grey coat, bearing all the accoutrements of battle with a heavy helm seated upon his brow and deep red circles for eyes that burned like the fires of a thousand dead suns.

A deep gravelly voice issued forth from the respirator, filtered through the suit's audio outputs, silvered with concern.

_"Kari... are you alright?"_

* * *

James had noticed something was wrong the instant his feed went dead. He had been listening to Berloiz's Les Troyens over the ship's audio systems while he worked on the finishing touches of his suit's armour. _Vallon Sonore_ had just finished its melancholy tryst with James's wandering mind when the feeds went dead.

At first, James had thought that it was a simple signal issue, that perhaps Tullius had restarted the ship's computer core in order to affect an upgrade of some type, but when the music did not return James suspected the worst.  
Years of being in the Special forces did that to you, made you think that the bogey man was around every corner, that every snap of a twig or fluttering of grass was an enemy about to strike.

He hoped that it was just some project that the two had been running or perhaps that the ship's router had gone offline. If the router was out, he could still his suit's local coms to get a hold of the bridge.  
"Tullius." James said, the speaking into the voice receptor inside his respirator, pressing his finger into his left ear to hear better.

"Jam-…" came a burst of static transmission from his earpiece, confirming his worst fear: long range and short range communications were being jammed, someone didn't want them talking…but who? The only organization on the Citadel that might want to disrupt their communications would be C-Sec and to his knowledge C-Sec had to get a warrant before resorting to such a drastic action…not to mention they usually questioned suspects before arresting them.

No, there was only one other explanation…

_"…cations...-tadel-….ttck-…" _The channel went dead after that, but James had heard enough. He drew his Predator from the holster on his hip, grabbed his gear off the worktable and headed for the ship's lift.

Someone was attacking the Citadel

But why? To what end? Who could possibly have something to gain in attacking the Citadel? James serious doubted that whoever it was had simply come to raid and destroy, there were far softer targets in the galaxy, especially since the recent additions to the Citadel fleet. And how did they get past the fleet? It would take an armada to get past the Asari's flagship the Destiny Ascension.

James placed his new helmet on, the heavily modded Securitel helm merging seamlessly with the mount he had fashioned from the recon hood. There was a momentary pause of soft whirrs and zips as the hardware ran through the start-up code. After a moment, the Umbra NVG goggles slid down from their housing on the front of the helmet over his eyes, locking securely with his gas-mask and hard-sealing the suit from the outside world.  
For the time since his wounding, James felt like a soldier again.

The lift stopped on deck two, and the door slid open. Just to the right of the CIC stood the war-room and the scene James was hoping to behold:

Tullius, Aesha, Marah and Keira were on the deck, hastily rationing out supplies, weapons and gear to one another that Keira had brought up from the armoury. The four looked up at him from the haphazard arrangement of gear dumped out on the war room table.

Tullius was in his full kit, Turian spec ops grade blue and gold armour with a modded Phaeston assault rifle gripped tightly in his hands. Aesha was in solid black commando leathers with an M-6 Carnifex strapped to her waist. Keira was in her usual black N7 defender armour with the rose coloured stripe across the shoulder and her beloved Black Widow sniper rifle propped up in her right arm, barrel pointed towards the ceiling.

Marah also had armour on, although it looked rather old and ragged and was little more than a chestpiece and two leg plates with barely enough material to form a proper kinetic barrier, but the rather large and dangerous looking shotgun in her hands that James recognized as the Graal seemed to more than make up for her shoddy armour.

Keira picked up James's M-55 Argus SOPMOD and tossed it to him as he entered the war-room. James easily snatching it out of the air and pulling the butt tightly to his shoulder, there was nothing more comforting to him at that moment than the feel of a solid weapon in his hands again. He gave her a nod of appreciation before turning to the others.

"What have we got?" James asked, not wasting any time.  
"Don't know, all we know is that the Citadel is under attack and the Citadel's arms have closed."

Tullius said, turning to the war-room table and typing in a command into the console.  
A second later the orangey yellow flash of the table's hologram projector came to life and showed vid feeds from the ship's external cameras.

The scene outside was a grim one. Thousands of tiny dots which might have been fighters or dropships were swarming over the Citadel's surface. Yellow flashes and tracer rounds lit up the darkened arms of the Citadel as far as the eye could see as the C-Sec traded fire with whoever was attacking. The situation looked grim indeed, although the external feeds just outside the ship's docking bay still looked clear although James expected that wouldn't be true for long.

First order of any attack strategy after cutting comlines would be to make sure no ships get into space, thus ensuring air superiority and that no enemy troops would escape the attack.

"Alright." James said at last, checking his M-55 Argus to make sure a fresh clip was seated in the receiver.

"First order of business is to secure a premeter, make sure no hostile forces get to the ship, after that out primary concern is to rescue survivors and assist C-Sec in repelling this attack."

" I want Aesha, Kari and Marah to hold the docking bay while me, Tullius and Keira head up to the Presidium and try to link up with C-Sec ground forces."

James looked around the room, making sure everyone was clear on their orders.

"If we get cut off from the Revenant and you see a chance to escape, Aesha I want you to take it. Judging by the number of ships, it will be unlikely that C-Sec will be able to hold them forever. I want you all out of here at the first available opportunity."

"No promises, sir." Aesha stated darkly, "If there are survivors we will see them to safety, but we aren't going to abandon you."

James was going to argue the point, but one look at Aesha's expression told him there was no point. James nodded reluctantly,  
"Very well, but make sure you-…"

James paused, he just noticed something: Kari wasn't here. He turned and looked around but she was nowhere to be found.

"Wait…where is Kari?"  
James looked to Marah who had been with Kari last.  
The krogan blinked, a bewildered expression coming over her face "Err… I thought she was with you."

"Shit." James cursed at himself for being so oblivious as he rushed towards the lift.

Kari was frozen, she thought she had awoken from a dream and stepped into a nightmare. She kept hoping that she would wake up to find out that she was still in her bed all along.  
It wasn't until the figure spoke, that Kari realized that this was all too real, and that made her tremble even more.  
James kneeled down before her, placing his rifle on the ground as he did, but Kari couldn't bear to look at him, his very image seemed to invoke the swirling cacophony of nightmarish images in her head, fueled by the fear of the great metal specter she had seen out of her window.

"Kari!" James said, grabbing Kari around her shoulders. Kari was despondent, her eyes refusing to make contact with his. He didn't need to see her facial expressions to know that she was afraid, so afraid that she had disconnected with reality.

James realized how deeply traumatic it must be for her, she had only just started to get to know everyone on the Revenant, and now they were under attack, just like she had been on Eden Prime.  
James toyed with the idea of staying with Kari, of simply staying holed up in the ship and waiting for the shitstorm to blow over. After all, he was beholden to no one on the Citadel, and if put in a similar situation, would not others do the same thing?

James shook his head.

No. That wasn't him. He was still a soldier, still a sentinel. He swore an oath to defend the weak and the innocent and while he had been released from that oath the day the Alliance had discharged him, he still held to it. Right now millions of lives were in danger and even if he could help save a few…it would be better than doing nothing.

James put a tender hand on the side of Kari's helmet, drawing her close to him.

"Kari listen to me, everything is going to be alright…" he murmured in the most comforting voice he could muster.

"Marah and Aesha will be here, just stay on the ship and everything will be okay." James assured her, although he wasn't truly certain it would be.

Kari looked up at him wordlessly, her hands gripping his arms tightly as a child afraid to fall.  
He pressed his helmet against her visor for a moment in a soft embrace, Kari's arms wrapping around him as he did.

"I'll be back soon." He whispered, Kari's grip tightening around him in a silent plea.

_Please don't go._

James didn't want to pull away from her, but he did, holding onto her hand as long as he could as he rose to his feet.

"I'll see you soon." He promised and turned to leave the room.

Kari just sat there on the floor and watched him leave, and James felt his heart break a little as the automatic door slide shut behind him. Even as it did, he prayed that he could keep his promise to Kari for her sake if nothing else.

* * *

"Shore up that flank!" Lieutenant Vidorian shouted over the din of battle, pointing a bloodied hand to the left approach to the lifts which was down two officers. Two of his men, Wiks and Fording moved from the center over to where their fallen comrades had been holding the line, Wiks nearly losing an arm to a Geth rocket as he did.

Vidorian cursed his luck. He and his men had been on a routine patrol of the Presidium's skylanes when these synthetic bastards had shown up. They barely had time to get clear of their squad cars with a few paltry rifles before the Geth had turned their vehicles into piles of smoking rubble.

Now here they were, barricaded in between the Geth and the lifts that lead to one of the Citadel's habitation blocks and hundreds of unarmed civilians. They could have fallen back through the lifts and gotten away from the Geth, but the attack had caught the Citadel unaware and scores of people were still trapped in the district.

Now, here they were less than a dozen C-Sec officers, holding the line against a full scale invasion and a platoon strength Geth unit that was pressing in from all sides. The incoming fire was so intense that most of the cover that they had been using had been melted away by heavy plasma impacts. They were down to their last line of defense now, and cover was getting ropey.

"Spirits help us, where the hell is our support?" Vidorian cursed at the officer who was working the radio.  
"I don't know sir! I can't get in touch with the precinct or the fleet!" The young turian responded.

"Keep trying, damn it. We can't hold this position much longer unless we get some reinforcements!" Vidorian cursed as he popped up from cover, firing three shots from his Predator, sending an advancing Geth trooper into a crumpling heap.

The Predator beeped a warning as the trigger went rigid beneath Vidorian's finger. The Lieutenant cursed, ducking back into cover and slamming the slide backwards and sending a red hot thermal clip flying out of the side of the pistol.

"How we doing on clips, Gerin?" Vidorian grunted to the sergeant next to him. The Salarian shook his head dismally. "Running low, we're going to have to start scavenging soon."

Vidorian grimaced.

Thermal clips were the detachable heat sinks that could be ejected to disappate heat from the weapon. Problem was, without them the weapon's safety mechanisms would not fire. So when you ran out of thermal clips, you either had to override the gun's safeties to continue firing, risking that the weapon would blow up in your face or look for discarded clips that had dissipated enough heat to be used again.

Either way, you would probably be overrun before you got a chance to fire again.

"Conserve shots, only hit the targets you know you can drop. We need to hold." Vidorian popped out of cover again to drop a pair of Geth troopers and a badly damaged Pyro before he was forced back into cover by the heavy thumping of a plasma cannon's shots.

He slammed the slide again. They were getting close, pistols and a few rifles couldn't hold them back forever. Vidorian realized that this probably was the end of the line for him and his men. He only hoped that they bought enough time for the civilians in the wards to evacuate.

The thump of heavy cannons roared over the cacophony of battle again, sending one of his fellow officers flying from his cover in a bloody heap.

Vidorian checked his Predator: last thermal clip in the magazine.

This was it: the last stand of Aelus Vidorian. His lips moved wordlessly in a short prayer, one directed at the spirit of death, asking for a clean death and safe passage to the realm beyond for him and his men.

Vidorian made himself ready, his muscles tensing and his body ready for blow that would send him from this galaxy, but even as he was about to burst from cover, with a warcry on his lips and his pistol tapping out the cadence of his death, one of his men shouted.

"Sir! Look!"

Vidorian looked over the edge of the counter that he had been using for cover.

On the other side of the ward coming from the docking bays, were three figures. Two humans and a Turian. All three were heavily armed with what looked like military grade weapons and armour, even from this distance Vidorian could tell they weren't military, but they were making short work of the Geth who comprised the rearguard of the force that was attacking Vidorian's position.

Vidorian usually hated mercenaries. They were the scum of the galaxy, selling their guns to the highest bidder for work that was often not only illegal but unethical as well…  
But right now, they were a damned welcome sight.

The Geth who had been pressing their attack so eagerly toward's Vidorian's position before turned to face this new threat, opening up their backs to enemy fire.

"Pour it into them!" Vidorian yelled, bursting from cover with his pistol, placing several perfect shots into the tank of a Pyro, sending the area around it bursting into flame as the tank burst.

James had seen the bedraggled police force almost as soon as they had left the docking bay and come up to the Presidium. The C-Sec officers had set up just outside the main lift to the habitation block, to prevent access by Geth troops.

Geth. James still could hardly believe that they Geth had come here to the Citadel. Perhaps this had been their plan from the beginning? Could they be trying to start a war? That was the only logical conclusion that James could think of. The only real significant strategic value the Citadel served was the head of government for the combined races of the galaxy.

Striking at the Citadel, to capture or destroy it would be a logical first step in a plan for full-scale war. Sever the head, the body dies. Although why the Geth would want such a war still puzzled him, but he would have time to think on that later. Right now, they were about dozen police officers about to be slaughtered by Geth.

"They are getting overrun." Tullius noted, pointing to heavily scored C-Sec barricade. "We have to help them!"

James nodded, motioning for Keira and Tullius to move into cover. The area between them and the police barricade was mostly open ground with little in the way of cover other than a few overturned café tables and garden boxes. The Geth that comprised the rear of the enemy platoon hadn't noticed them yet and James preferred to keep it that way as long as possible.

"Agreed. We will need to take pressure off them fast."  
James looked up over the edge of the garden box he was hiding behind, pressing the plant's stem aside so he could get a better look.

"One prime, a dozen pyros, twenty plus troopers and what looks like some cloaked units off on the side there."  
James counted off, a rough estimate of the enemy's strength. He turned back to Keira and Tullius

" Keira, stay back and give us sniper support as we move up, Tullius you're with me. We're going in fast and hard, see if we can draw their fire. "

Tullius and Keira both nodded acknowledgement.

There was a long stretch of no man's land between them and their desired objective, but James figured if they move quickly enough they could avoid getting caught in the open.

"Weapons check. Go on three." James murmured, his tone hushed.

James gave one last check his omni-tool, his rifle was synced to his targeting optics, his amp was ready and his favourite tech programs were on standby. Tullius and Keira did the same...after a moment they looked up at him. They were ready.

"One."  
James counted off, his muscles tensing.  
"Two."  
He felt the tingling sensation of neuro-transmitters signaling his neurons to fire surging from his spine out into the eezo nodules throughout his body.  
_"Three."_

James, Keira and Tullius broke from cover simultaneously, dashing hard and low for the Geth rearguard. They closed the distance quickly. They were about thirty meters out when the first Geth trooper turned to face them. It didn't have to worry about the three well armed combatants for very long, Keira's Black Widow made sure of that.

Tullius and James pressed their attack still, closing to within fifteen meters before they both dove for cover behind a pair of garden boxes and opened up on the Geth that were wheeling to meet their charge. James fired off a trio of rounds immediately severing the head of a Pyro from its body. White fluid that looked akin to blood flew from the sparking stump as the Geth slumped forward, falling to the ground with a heavy crash.  
Behind it, another one exploded in a ball of flames that incinerated two Geth troopers in its wake.

Two more pyros moved up, and with them the shimmering distorted silhouttes of Hunters slipping past their comrades silently on the flanks, hoping to overtake their quarry without a fight. But James saw them this time. He poured shot after shot into the shimmering phantoms, causing their shields and cloaks to break before he lashed out with his left arm, a bolt of pure dark energy flying out to meet the Hunters and drag them off their feet.

The now uncloaked, unshielded hunters looked from side to side curiously, as if perplexed by this sudden change in the gravitational fields of the Citadel.

James's eyes went narrow, a wicked smile forming on his lips as he regarded the pair of suspended Geth.

"Let's see how you like it…" he growled, aiming his left arm up at the hunters and thumbing the fire button on his omni-tool's interface.  
The orange hologram came alive as a gauntlet of light formed around James's left wrist and forearm. Perched on top of this gauntlet was box-like construct with several razor sharp blades housed within, like the fangs of a beast within its maw. The omni-tool gave a sharp crack and the blades issued forth in a chaotic spread, several of the blades embedding themselves in the Hunters who convulsed at the sudden and violent disruption of their systems.

If the hunters felt any pain, they didn't have to suffer long, for the mass effect fields that comprised the sharp edge of the embedded blades deteriorated quickly, shattering explosively as they torn the two hunters apart from the inside out.

Little chunks of metal and showers of white liquid rained down on the remaining Geth, but it did not phase them. They pressed their attack on James and Tullius, almost completely ignoring the run-down C-Sec forces who were offering little more than paltry fire now.

_Pop, pop, pop._ Three more Geth went down the Keira's rifle and the steady wailing of Tullius's Phaeston was wearing down the Prime's shields.

James kept up his own fire, his Argus picking off the more heavily shielded Geth units with ease as each trio of rounds slammed into their targets with great force.

"Firing a high impact round!" Tullius shouted, overcharging his Phaestron by loading several shots into the chamber before allowing the mass accelerator to send it downrange. The resulting chunk of melted metal struck the Prime directly in the optics, causing the thing's plasma cannon to buck wildly, firing blindly into the air.

James saw an opportunity. He rushed forward, sending a ball of biotic energy flying as he did, striking the Geth Pyro immediately next to the Prime in the chest. The Pyro staggered backwards, the dark energy swirling around it and trying to eat through the thin shields that protected it.

The Pyro met James's attack with an equally harsh response of its own. A jet of scorching hot flames poured forth towards James, nearly catching him in its incandescent fury as he slid to a halt behind an upturned metal table. The table shielded James from the worst of the blast, but his own suits systems began to beep warnings into his ear. He acted quickly, before the Pyro tried to flank or turned his flamer off.

James popped out from behind the table, taking a blast of the burning liquid straight to the face as he did, his suit's shields screaming out in distress as he stared down the river of fire. His adrenaline spiked and seething hot rage poured into his limbs. He focused the power of his anger into one powerful spike of biotic ability, sending it all directly down the nozzle of the Pyro's flamer.

The effect was exactly what James had hoped for.

The Pyro disintegrated in a powerful explosion of biotics and fire, catching both the Prime and its fellow Pyro in the blast. The Prime might have survived the blast, had not it not been caught in the secondary explosion of the other pyro at its side.

Vadorian could scarely believe his eyes. He had never seen a human do something that brash and bold before.  
The dark figure of the mercenary leader emerged from flaming rubble of the Geth platoon, his two comrades bringing up the rear.

James looked around at the rubble scattered across the ground. The adrenaline that had fuled his biotic surge began to wane and a sense of accomplishment and pride began to fill him in its stead. They had just taken out an entire Geth platoon in less than two minutes…and he still had his touch.

James cracked a wry grin behind his mask looking up to see a dumbfounded Turian C-Sec officer staring at them in amazement.

_"Someone call for some backup?"_

* * *

"I don't know who the hell you are, but I'm damned glad you're here." Vidorian said, extending an arm of thanks to the three mercenaries before him.  
Each of them took his arm in a hearty handshake.

"Lieutenant Aelus Vidorian, 12th Precinct, Citadel Security." He stated in an official manner.

"And I owe you three a debt of gratitude. If you hadn't come along when you did, we would have been smeared all over the wall." Vidorian gave a dark grin relief.

"James Irving, Tullius Arcadian and Keira Baines." James said, introducing them each in turn.  
"We're here to assist in any manner necessary." James stated plainly.

Vidorian nodded his brown forming into a scowl as he eyed them up and down with a slightly suspicious glare.

"Right. Well, I'm sure we can come to an arrangement with your employeers after this is over. C-Sec doesn't usually hire… security contractors…" Vidorian putting emphasis on those last two words, as if uttering a curse. James didn't really like the sound of it either, but there was no denying what he was now, even if Vidorian put it diplomatically.

"But, you did help us out…I will make sure you are well compensated for your trouble."

James shook his head,  
"We're not with any organization, and compensation won't be necessary, Lieutenant. We are soldiers, not vultures."

Vidorian's heavy features lightened considerably at those words. He hadn't expected mercs to come to his rescue and he certainly didn't expect mercs with a conscience, such things were usually bad for the business, but the human's body language seemed to indicate he was being truthful.

Vidorian felt bad now for taking such a tone with the three that had saved his men's lives.

"Huh. Well…uh- good to have you then…" He muttered, his cheeks turning a darker shade of blue in embarrassment.  
"You'll have to forgive me…I assumed…well, in any case thank you…"

"It's quite alright, Lieutenant. We are happy to help." James assured, his words seemed sincere enough for the Turian officer. "Now, what's the situation?"

Vidorian nodded appreciatively, "Thanks. We have been holding this area since the attack began. We had been in contact with a doctor who was orchestrating the evacuation of the habitation block but we haven't heard from him since the communications blackout."

James looked over at the C-Sec officers behind the barricade. They looked bruised, bloodied but still held their heads up high, despite being significant under-armed for this kind of a fight. They were law enforcement, not soldiers, many of them had ever shot a weapon except on the firing range, but they still had held the line against a much larger and more powerful force.

"The entire Presidium is a mess," Vidorian continued, motioning them to follow him to the barricade, talking as they walked, "whatever the synthetic bastards are doing, they've thrown the bulk of their forces into this sector. My men and I managed to stall their advance into the habitation block of the Presidium, to buy the doctor time to get the civilians out. You may have killed the bastards that were attacking us, but they'll be back and probably with more this time." Vidorian sighed in resignation.

"I don't know if we will be able to hold this time…."

"You won't need to." James murmured. "We will take up positions and hold here until reinforcements arrive."

Vidorian turned halted in his tracks, turning back to James with a curious look, as if he hadn't heard the human correctly.  
"That's crazy. You'll be cut down in no time flat."

James shook his head. "Not necessarily. If we mine the approach and get a good position, we will be able to hold this sector till doomsday."

"That may be closer than you think, James." Tullius noted with a dark chuckle, pointing up at the fires burning across the Citadel's arms.

Vidorian didn't seem convinced though.

"Miss Baines here is the best damn shot in the galaxy, she and Tullius can stay here while I go into the habitation block and see if I can find your missing doctor."

Vidorian looked over at Keira with a calculating stare, his eys scanning up and down her form, assessing her potential for violence. Keira just stared back at the Turian, her emerald eyes stabbing like frosted daggers into the Turian's skin, enough to make a little chill run down his spine.

"And my men?" Vidorian asked, unsure of exactly where they would retreat to, after all the entire Citadel could be burning for all they knew.

"Back to our ship, the Revenant. You can take your wounded to our med-bay and those still standing can assist in directing refugees."

Vidorian raised a hand to his chin, stroking his mandibles for a moment with his bloodied fingers.  
While Vidorian didn't relish of his men leaving their post during a crisis was the most honourable course of action, he did recognize the fact that in the current condition, they would likely be little more than a minor distraction when the Geth rolled though again.

And while Vidorian knew that soldiers died in war, it wasn't wise to waste lives on foolish endeavors, not when there was another option.

"Alright. It's not a perfect plan, but I don't think we have much of a choice at the moment." Vidorian said, signaling Gerin to toss him a rifle. The salarian responded, chucking his Vindicator over to the Turian Lieutenant. Vidorian caught it with one hand, slipping it into that cradle between his arm and shoulder. He popped the slide back, loading a fresh thermal clip into position.

"But I'm going with you." He stated in a matter-of-fact manner.

James nodded in agreement, "Fair enough." James lifted his arm and opened his omni-tool, typing the coordinates into a text message and sending via short range peer to peer network link to Vidorian's omni-tool.

"These are the coordinates, have your men proceed there as quickly as they can."

"Right." Vidorian nodded solemnly as he passed on the information to the rest of the squad.

"Shall we proceed, then?" Vidorian asked with a grimace.

James nodded to Tullius and Keira. The two returned his gesture and brushed past the two, taking up positions on either side of the lifts.

James looked back to Vidorian and gave a quick bob of his head towards the lift doors.  
"Let's go."

* * *

Kari sat on the floor in the dismal dark of her room. Her arms were curled up around her knees and her head was planted flatly against her tighs as she rocked herself back and forth slowly on the cold metal floor with her back to the window.

She didn't want to look, she didn't want to see what was happening. So many people were dying right now. Each one with their own individual wants and interests, each unique in the galaxy…and they were being snuffed out, like the flames of candles hushed by a great wind.

She wondered how many of them had husbands or wives, children or parents that they would leave behind. She wondered how many of the people she had met on the Citadel were dead right now…

Kari trembled.

Bursts of light interrupted the darkness, flashing luminous patterns across the blank wall that she was staring at. Shadows danced like puppets on strings of light across the wall, forming long deep crevices that stretched out like branches of a dead tree reaching towards the iron sky.

They taunted Kari, prodding her, pushing inky thoughts into her mind with each flash of incandescent fury followed by sacred silence.

_How many in that explosion? Ten? A hundred? A thousand? _

How many burned in that momentary blaze? How many would burn for years to come? How many lives would be forever changed because of one brief second.

One second, that made the difference between happiness and misery. That one second that the wife became a widow, the child became an orphans or the parent lost their son.

_What if that had been the explosion that had killed James?_

Kari shuddered even to think such a thought.

_No, he promised to come back. He swore he would. He wouldn't just…_

Kari's chest heaved pitifully as tears began to roll down her cheeks, unbidden and silent.

She knew that she was lying to herself to think that just because James had promised to return to her, didn't mean he would. He was a strong, brave man, but he was not invincible. Just because she wanted such, didn't make it so. She knew he was going to walk into hell, the moment that he had stepped foot into her room, and she had just let him go.

She didn't try to stop him, she didn't offer to come with him, she just had sat there on the floor like an idiot. If he died now, it would be her fault, her fault for not stopping him, for not trying to save him from his own damnable heroic nature.

Kari let a loud shuddering tearful sob escape her lips as she hugged her own legs even tighter.

She would never know the touch of his lips again, nor the sweet smell of his skin, unfiltered and distilled in her nostrils. She would never feel his hand again on her cheek nor would she ever get to experience the wonder of love-making or the feel of his skin against hers.

If he died today, all of it would be because of her failure: as a soldier, as an engineer and as a lover.

Kari bowed her head solemnly, her eyes still stinging and swollen.

No it wasn't right. She needed to get a grip on her emotions. She couldn't just sit here wallowing in self pity while the others risked their lives. She had to do something...she had to be brave. She had to be the person that everyone believed that she could be.

Kari felt something stirring in her, something warm and powerful like a bright light across the shadows of her doubts, dim at first but growing in strength with each passing moment.

He wasn't going to die today, because she wasn't going to let him. She was going to pick herself up out of her own puddle of self-pity and shame and march straight down there to go get him.

Kari's arms began to unwrap from her legs. The thought strengthing her resolve with each second.

_I am Kari'Vereah Nar Vanya, daughter of Captain Zevi'Vereah. I can do this. I have to do this. What are a few Geth to my people? We made them, we can break them too._

Kari rose slowly to her feet, unsteadily, as if her body didn't quite want to believe what her brain was telling it.

Kari walked over to her bedside, grabbing her old shotgun up off the table. It was a well worn model dating back over three centuries to the original war with the Geth, the one that had ended in her people's exile. Passed down from generation to generation in her family, it was fitting that it would now taste battle again against the same hated foe that her ancestors had fought over three hundred years ago.

Kari grabbed a handful of thermal clips from the table and began to load them into the shotgun's magazine as she headed for the door. She moved in a daze, as if the entire process was a little more than a very realistic dream.

She still couldn't believe she was going to do this, she was no soldier. She was just a silly girl with a shotgun. She stopped loading clips into her shotgun as a wave of trepidation washed over her again.

What was she doing? She was going to get herself and everyone around her killed trying to be a hero.

But then she thought of James, and how that she felt when she was near him….and the sensation of his lips against hers, their tongues and fingers twined together in perfect harmony. That's what she was fighting for….

Kari's brow furrowed and she set her jaw, dropping the shotgun, while clutching the slide with one hand as gravity did the work of cocking the weapon for her.

_It was time to hunt some Geth._

* * *

The habitations block was worse off than either of them could have expected. The once pristine alabaster walks of and parking lots of the apartments were strewn with rubble. Plasma score marks littered the landscape and several buildings were burning slowly. Others still had parts of their structure blasted away from what was likely rifled grenade impacts from their side and distribution patterns. Several bodies of various species lay strewn across the ground, some of them still smoldering blackened circles in their backs where the Geth had shot them, the smell of burning flesh and plastic wafted up to James nostrils through the filters of his suit, almost causing him to vomit.

He winced in sympathetic pain as he looked over the bodies, knowing all too well the agonizing pain that the victims had experienced in the last moments of consciousness before the grim void of death took them.

Vidorian stared down at the bodies as well in disbelief. Some of them were young, children…unarmed and frightened.  
James looked over at Vidorian, his expression reminded of a passage that his father always quoted to him when he was young, an piece of family wisdom passed down through the generations.

_Those without swords can still die upon them._

Vidorian kneeled down next to one of the small bodies, a Turian girl: no more than ten in human years. She had three blacked holes in a perfect triangular pattern scorched into her back. Her face was pale and cold and she looked as if she had fallen while in a dead sprint by the way her body was arrayed.

James could see the question in Vidorian's eyes as he stared numbly at the girl, as if trying to make sense of it all.

James kneeled down next to him, the petrified, look of fear in the little girl's clouded sightless eyes invoking a dark emotion deep within James's subconscious, like the echo of a scream wafting up from a dungeon.

James pressed his gloved fingers reverently over the little girl's eyelids, closing them forever.

"Hunters." James stated coldly, answering the question that had been eating away at Vidorian's mind, although it proved to be no comfort to him.

"They must have slipped past when you were occupied." James continued.

Vidorian shook his head, "Doesn't excuse it…." He mumbled, still staring at the girl's body. He needed to remember this. To see the price of his failure…so that it would never happen again.

"You couldn't have known…" James reassured, but he could tell it was falling on deaf ears. Vidorian was going to have to deal with this himself in his own way.

James knew how he dealt with horror: with a lot of sleepless nights and bad dreams.  
"Come on… there's nothing we can do for the dead, and those Geth are still out there."

Vidorian nodded, rising from the side of the girl with solemn scowl on his face. "Right… there might still be someone alive out here." He said grimly, as if not believing his own platitude.

James couldn't really believe anyone had survived either. It looked like the Geth had been very through in their attack. Everyone had already escaped to met a gruesome death on the end of a plasma shotgun.

Yet as many bodies as there were laying on the ground, James knew it could have been a lot worse. Hundreds of people lived in these apartments, the dead numbered in the dozens.

Still it was far too many, James had only wished that they had gotten there sooner, perhaps more would still be alive if they had.

He and Vidorian walked through the debris and rubble strewn complexes cautiously, one on either side of the main street that ran up the middle of this habitation block.

Except for the sound of crackling fires the entire district was eeriely silent. James didn't like it. He felt like he was being watched…tracked….hunted. The scarred tissue on his back seemed to flare up in little prickles of pain, like the skin itself remembered the unbearable agony of having its flesh literally melted away to the bone.

James checked behind him again, thinking her heard something behind him…but it was just his imagination. He saw nothing but empty streets and still bodies. That made him even more nervous. He had seen some of the old cheesy movies of his grandfather's era where the dead rose up from their graves to eat the flesh of the living, the concept had scared the hell of him as a child, but he had never been afraid of such nonsense as an adult.

But, James couldn't deny that the thought didn't occur to him now, as silly as it seemed. He had never been in a situation like this before. He had seen plenty of death in his time, but the dead were always soldiers, or there had been some kind of immediate threat that had prevented him from dwelling on thoughts about the fallen around him.

Now, there was only silence, and the churning of his own vicious imagination to keep him company.

James stepped over another corpse. A human woman in her middling years with a kindly looking face, scrunched up and frozen in her death throes.  
_Someone's mother, no doubt _

James thought has he moved on quickly, forcing his brain to stay on task and not wander into that obvious abyss that stared up at him.

"Do you hear that?" Vidorian asked, holding up his three-fingered hand in a fist. James froze, scanning the area with both his eyes and ears.

He did hear something: a voice.  
It was muffled and distant but it was definitely a man's voice: human from the sound of it.

James and Aelus both looked at each other for a moment, nodding silent assent to the other.  
They rushed forward, picking up the pace from the creep they had been going at to a light jog. They were still checking corners and scanning for threats as they went, but at a much less thoroughly.

They twisted and winded their way though the alleys and backways of the apartments, seeking the origin of the voice and the speaker. As they came closer, James recognized that the person that was speaking was indeed human and curiously enough he sounded angry.

James couldn't make out the words, but from the tone the person sounded like he was scolding a naughty child about not finishing his or her peas at supper.

The voice grew in strength and volume, until finally they were able to get a glimpse of the speaker.  
The scene that greeted them was a strange one indeed. About fifteen meters from their position was a gaunt, tall man  
that looked like he could have been plucked from a page in a history book.

His appearance suggested he was in his late twenties in a three-piece white suit with half-moon crescent glasses perched upon his nose and a very odd looking handbag clutched in his right hand which was at his side like the kind commonly used several hundred years ago to carry tools or medicine.

Behind him was a small Asari girl, about six years old (in human years) cowering behind the leg of the much taller man. The man cursing at a geth hunter who stood immobile, staring at the pair with its shotgun leveled at the human's chest.  
The human was unarmed but the ferocity of his gesticulations suggested that he was giving the Geth hunter the sternest talking to that it had ever received.

James and Aelus both took cover behind a couple of wastebins that cluttered the alleyway, both lining up shots on the Geth's head.

"How dare you, sir. Scaring a young girl in this manner! Have you no manners? Did your parents- or whatever it is you creatures have ever teach you any civility whatsoever?" the man ranted in a very cultured drawl.

"I demand that you release us at once! I must get this child to a properly medical facility right away before her condition worsens- are you listening to me?"

The Geth seemed to understand at least part of what he said: the little girl was injured and would likely not be a good candidate for their purposes. The Geth lowered its barrel from the man's chest to aim at the little girl.  
The girl whimpered and retracted even further behind the man's leg, the human stepping in front of the shotgun barrel with an appaulded look on his face.

"Good God, man, she's a child! Have a little compassion!"

The human was going to be a problem. It was no matter, the Old Machines would find a use for his corpse.

The hunter began charging its shotgun, to deliver an instantly fatal blast to the man's chest. That is, it would have, if its head didn't suddenly go missing.

_Err-rr-rr-oor-_

Boom. The Geth hunter collapsed into a hunk of scrap. Both the man and the Asari girl looked up in suprise to see the source of the shot, the human putting himself between the girl and where he figured the bullet came from.

Vidorian and Irving emerged from behind the wastebins, with sights trained on the fallen Geth.

The man in the white suit seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw the C-Sec uniform.

"Officer Vidorian. Good to see you again." The man said, relaxing slightly.

The Turian lieutenant nodded, "You as well, doctor. I was worried that you might not have made it."

"Same to you, Lieutenant. When those Geth showed up, I thought that you and your men had fallen."

Vidorian shook his head, his expression one of regret and pain. "No. They had cloaking units, so they must have slipped past us." He said, the bitterness over his failure still fresh in his voice.

The doctor nodded sympathetically. "I thought as much. We were close to being finished with the evacuation of the district when they came out of nowhere, from all sides…"  
The doctor grimaced, "We lost a lot of good folk today."  
James nodded in agreement, "Yes…we have."

There was a moment of silence between the four of them before the doctor turned to James.

"I'm sorry. You will have to pardon my manners… Benjamin Byrd, Doctor of medicine and philosophy, at your service sir." he said in an official manner, bowing graciously to James.

James raised his eyebrow slightly at the gesture, it was a very dated, very dramatic sort of bow similar one would see at a Royal Ball in London, although his accent sounded far from English.

"James Irving. Private Military." He said, offering a respectful nod.

"Ah." Doctor Byrd said, raising his eyebrows slightly in understanding, but offering a polite smile nevertheless.  
"A pleasure, sir. I wish we had time to become acquainted, but I'm afraid this girl needs immediate medical attention." Benjamin said, gesturing to the Asari child that was starting to peak out from behind his leg curiously.

"I have an owie." The little girl chimed in, holding up her hand to show the newcomers her war-wound. It looked to be nothing more than a bad bruise and a small tear in the skin, hardly more than a flesh wound that would would require at most a few stitches.. But James understood what the doctor was getting at.

Something bad had happened to this little girl's parents...and he was trying to keep her thoughts off that subject.

James looked up at the doctor, who gave a sad little smile as he looked at the little girl. He scooped her up in his left arm and put her on his hip.

"Yes you do, m'dear. Don't worry, we will get you fixed up right as rain when we get you to a hospital." The doctor smiled at the little girl, grabbing his handbag up in his other hand.

"Will mommy be there?" the little girl asked innocently.

The doctor's brow furrowed slightly…sadly. "I don't know m'dear, but I'm sure she's proud of you for being so brave."

The doctor forced another smile to his lips. "Tell you what, when we get to the hospital, why don't I get you some of those sweeties you like so much and we can wait for your mother together. Does that sound agreeable?"

The little girl gave a little grin. "Okay." She said and nuzzled her head up against the doctor's shoulder, wrapping her tiny arms around his chest and side.

"We should go." Vidorian stated calmly, although James could tell by his expression that he was feeling anything but calm at the moment.

"Is there anyone else?" James asked, to which the doctor shook his head.

"No. It's just us. Everyone else is already gone."

"Then I suggest we do the same. Come on, before that hunter's mates decide to show up."

* * *

Kari moved silently through the abandoned streets of the habitation block. It was quiet here, hauntingly so. It was as silent as a tomb on the street level, with no sound but the gentle crackling of spreading fires and the shifting of metal and timber as the burning apartments caved in on themselves. There were bodies strewn about in horrific fashion, as if someone had just tossed a bunch of ragdolls haphazardly across the ground.

Kari stepped over them slowly, tiptoeing as if trying not to disturb the dreamless slumber which held them. She tried not to look down at the bodies, the very smell alone was enough to weaken her already shakey resolve, but if she was going to find James, she had to go deeper still.

She stepped over another body, the cloaking field around her shimmering slightly as she did. She nearly tripped on the arm, forcing her to gaze down to try to regain her balance. The arm belonged to that of a blonde haired middle aged woman. She looked someone's grandmother, with a very tender, loving face, now pale and cold in death. Kari wondered if perhaps the woman could have been James's mother, her face looked a lot like James.

But then, James had never mentioned his mother, except once. She had died some years before, but James wouldn't say anything more than that. It seemed a subject that brought him a lot of pain, so Kari didn't press the issue, but Kari couldn't help but wonder whose mother this was...

Dark thoughts started to creep back into Kari's consciousness, bringing with them that fear that she had been suppressing. She shoved the thoughts away quickly, before they had a chance to take hold, forcing herself to press on deeper into the maze of buildings.

She wasn't sure how much longer the cloak was going to last anyways she had forgotten to charge the unit before she left and it was the older model that the Ellis's had given her. Even at best she figured that she would only have a few more minutes before she either had to turn back to risk losing the cloak and being exposed.

Her enviro-suit had kinetic barriers, but they were very week, suitable for only stopping a pistol round or two before giving out. After that, she might as well just paint a giant bullseye on her visor and wait for someone to shoot her.

Kari continued on, the silence only growing the further she got in. There were fewer bodies this way, and less rubble no fires at all. It was as if she was walking into a photograph, a ghostly reflection of the district's past: everything still perfectly in its place, but with no sign of life anywhere.

Kari started to feel uneasy, like the walls were closing in around her, growing in height, blocking what little light filter through the darkened skybox. She heard a whispers and ghostlys voice in the back of her mind, alien and unknowable.  
Her heart pounded in her chest, and her head started to throb in dull pain.

She stopped in her tracks. To her right, there was a rather dark narrow alleyway with walls that seemed to reach up to the sky and nothing but inky darkness in its depths except for a very small point of white light at the very center of the long corridor.

There was something down there. Kari could feel it…yet her mind recoiled at the thought of going down there. Shadows spread out like a tongue from a maw, inviting and warm. She felt drawn to it. It called to her, a voice in the back of her mind spurring her on to investigate.

Perhaps James was down there? Was he injured? Did he need help? How could she leave him alone in such a place…she had to go to him.

Yet, just as she was about to step down into the alleyway, she heard something from behind her. Voices: several of them, in hushed tones. One of them sounded like James.

The voice in her mind disappeared, a soft growl echoing in its wake. The light was gone. Kari stepped back from the menacing looking alley. Trepidation hung heavily in her heart as she turned and ran her steps quickening as she moved away from it and towards the sound of James's voice.

Out of the dark alley, an several inky figures moved in the darkness, slipping out of the shadows that had harboured them. One by one the figures departed from the alleyway and disappeared into the streets beyond….

James, Benjamin and Aelus moved through the streets as quietly as they could manage, only exchanging hushed words they had to. The little girl Karena had been talking at one point before, babbling on about her pet varren, Snuggles. However with a few words from James and the doctor, she had agreed to keep quiet until they told her otherwise.

They were in a very dangerous situation. By the doctor's count there had been nine geth hunters out there, eight of them that could very well be stalking them at this very instant and they wouldn't know it.

So they moved quickly, Vidorian in front, the doctor and the girl in the middle and James pulling up the rearguard. Street by street they moved, closing the distance to the lifts with each passing second. James hoped that Keira and Tullius were not having too much trouble trying to hold down the fort by themselves, although James knew Keira and if Tullius was even as half as good at her with a rifle, they could hold that lift until doomsday.

James grinned as he thought about them. If he knew Keira, she would have probably made a wager against Tullius to see who could get the most kills. A wager she always won of course. The girl had a mean eye and an even meaner shot. He once saw her pop the heads of four batarian slavers with one shot from her anti-material rifle.

They would hold, James was sure of it. The only question is now was if they would make it to the extraction point alive. If all eight of them swarmed him at once, he couldn't possibly get them all before they blasted him with those shotguns of theirs and that was if he saw them coming. They could very well gut him from behind again, and this time probably do a better job of it to.

It was a very discouraging thought…

James turned around to see how they were progressing. They were close. He could see the lifts to the Presidium in the distance, just beyond the glass ceiling that opened up to allow cars into the Citadel skylanes. Just a few hundred meters or so and they would be there.

James smiled and turned back around to face their flanks. But in that moment, the smile fade from his lips. He saw something….moving. Like a gust of wind… faintly stirring its surroundings. But there was no wind on the Citadel…

James looked closer and he saw it. The faint silhouette of something moving towards him…it was small and closing the distance fast, the distinct shimmering of a cloaking field becoming visible to him.  
James raised his rifle to his face, but the form continued its advance, not even breaking stride as it grew closer.

James aimed down the sights of his M-55, observing the patterns and currents of the electricity as it flowed around the form, allowing James to pick out the head from the rest of the body.

Even with its shields up, there was no way that a hunter could survive a trio of Argus rounds directly to the optic cluster, and since he didn't see any additional distortions behind it, James allowed himself the time to line up the shot perfectly.

The red dot of his sight centered directly on the mirage's skull.

_"Gotca." _James whispered, and squeezed the trigger.


End file.
